Building Safe Online Spaces Together
Sexual harassment, assault, and abuse can happen anywhere, including in online spaces. For too long harassment, cyberbullying, and sexual abuse and exploitation have come to be expected as typical and unavoidable behaviors online. Building Safe Online Spaces Together is possible when we practice digital consent, intervene when we see harmful content and behaviors, and promote online communities that value respect, inclusion, and safety.
Now more than ever, screens and technology connect us with romantic partners, friends and family, co-workers, and strangers alike. For too long, harassment, cyberbullying, sexual abuse, and exploitation have come to be expected as typical and unavoidable behaviors online.
What is online sexual abuse?
Online sexual abuse can be any type of sexual harassment, exploitation, or abuse that takes palce thorugh screens.
Supporting Survivors
Trauma is an intense experience that causes overwhelming emotional and psychological stress. This can include a single event, like an accident or assault, as well as ongoing experiences that threaten your well-being.
Trauma-informed means taking into consideration a person's experience of trauma and their reactions to it.
Building Safe Online Communities
Community-level Prevention refers to more than just where people live - it can also mean workplaces, campuses, organizations, or any spaces (online or otherwise) that have their own policies and rules that impact others.
Practicing Digital Consent
Consent occurs when someone gives permission for something to happen or agrees to do something.
Digital Consent is a way to refer to sexual consent that happens through screens.
Keeping Kids Safe Online
Grooming is the process in which peretrators jduge how far they can push boundaries and exploit someone's trust.
Sextortion is a crime that happens online when an adult convices a person who is under 18 to share sexual pictures or perfrom sexual acts on a webcam.
Adapted with permission from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Building Safe Online Spaces Together. Copyright 2022. www.nsvrc.org/saam