Bertina Lou
Just Access Legal Fellow
technology-facilitated gender-based violence, United Nations Population Fund, intersectionality, gender-diverse, recommendations, cyberstalking, doxing, informational privacy, violence, surveillance, consent, feminism, religion, ethnicity, age, LGBTQI+, sexual orientation, event, symposium, United Nations, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, racism, research, marginalisation, women, girls, women and girls, youth
What are you willing to compromise in digital spaces? Â
Most of us accept that using technology may negatively impact our privacy, security, and wellbeing, but for certain populations the outcome can be severe. For marginalised communities, in particular, technology can reinforce systems of oppression. That is why the topic of technology-facilitated gender-based violence took centre stage this month at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s symposium.
The UNFPA’s third Global Symposium on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence was held on the 6th and 7th of March 2025. With a focus on intersectionality, this event highlighted the necessity of focusing on gender-diverse identities and voices when addressing technology-facilitated violence.Â
This blog series introduces the topic of technology-facilitated gender-based violence and intersectionality. It reports on the discussions from the 2025 Global Symposium on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence and shares key resources and recommendations related to addressing this issue.
What is Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence?
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) involves the use of technology to harm someone on the basis of gender. This includes not only the direct use of technology as a tool to commit, assist, or amplify violence but also the threat of using technology to cause harm in order to exert control over someone. TFGBV can occur virtually or in-person and impact the social, emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing of survivors. Â
TFGBV can affect anyone and be experienced differently by everyone. Solutions must adopt an intersectional approach and involve multi-sector collaboration and action worldwide.
TFGBV can look like many things. For example, cyberstalking as a form of TFGBV can manifest as persistent, unwelcome digital contact through online platforms or occur as unwanted surveillance through location-tracking technologies and geotag monitoring. Doxing is another form of TFGBV that refers to the unauthorised collection and public sharing of an individual’s personal information in an effort to humiliate them.
Both these forms of TFGBV may transition into offline violence as the unauthorised use of sensitive information (e.g., location or home address) may place the victim’s physical safety at risk. Technology can also be used to intentionally facilitate physical violence (such as the use of dating apps to facilitate sexual violence) or to amplify physical violence (as with the filming and distribution of sexual assaults). Threats to distribute intimate images without consent or to block access to online accounts (e.g., for banking or social media) also constitute TFGBV. The UNFPA’s glossary of Digital Violence Terms contains more examples of technology-facilitated violence.Â
What is Intersectionality and Why is TFGBV an Intersectional Issue?
Intersectionality is a framework that describes how the unique intersection of an individual’s social identities (e.g., their race, class, gender, sexuality, age, religion, ability, etc.) can represent sites of privilege and/or oppression. This framework looks at how an individual’s many social identities interact to produce their lived experience. TFGBV is an intersectional issue frequently involving religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and age.
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Statistics show that transgender and gender-diverse people experience the highest proportion of reported TFGBV. Of all the individuals who experienced TFGBV, 12 per cent were targeted based on their religion, a number that rises to 14 per cent among gender-diverse people. Regarding sexual orientation, 43 per cent of LGBTQI+ people have experienced TFGBV because of their sexuality.  Â
Ethnicity also plays a role in the experiences of those subjected to TFGBV as 37 per cent of the girls from ethnic minority groups who reported online harassment in one study said it was due to their ethnicity. Lastly, younger girls are an age group highly likely to be impacted by TFGBV as over 80 per cent of female youths between the ages of thirteen to twenty-four have received unwanted or inappropriate sexual messages online.
Intersectionality is a framework that looks at how an individual’s many social identities interact to produce their lived experience.
How can TFGBV be Addressed from an Intersectional Perspective?
An intersectional approach to addressing TFGBV would account for the perspectives and lived experiences of marginalised social identities, as well as seek to subvert systemic inequalities. It may involve:Â
- Conducting research and data collection on TFGBV in ways that account for and can serve a diverse range of lived experiences;Â
- Conducting research and data collection on TFGBV using research methods and methodologies that empower marginalised individuals (e.g., Emancipatory Research, Community-based Participatory Research, Participatory Action Research, etc.);Â
- Encouraging responses to TFGBV that are created by and for the local community;Â
- Encouraging responses to TFGBV that are survivor-centred and tailored to individual needs;Â Â
- Adopting a trauma-informed approach to support the survivors of TFGBV;Â
- Partnering and collaborating with organisations that are interest-based, identity-based, faith-based, etc. to centre their knowledge and voices in discussions on TFGBV;Â
- Addressing the root causes of social systems that place individuals at risk for experiencing or perpetrating TFGBV (e.g., sexism, misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc.); andÂ
- Targeting or designating funding for intersectional projects that address TFGBV. Â
TFGBV can affect anyone and may be experienced differently by everyone. It is therefore imperative that solutions adopt an intersectional approach and involve multi-sector collaboration and action worldwide.Â
This blog post is part of a TFGBV and Intersectionality Series. Read the next article of the series here.
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