International Conference on Digital
Abuse of Women in Intimate
Relationships
Director
Margaret Martin
Social Media Use in Ireland
• 80% of adults in Ireland use social networking
• 78% of adults are on Facebook and about 80% of
Facebook users use a smartphone, tablet or laptop
• 1.8m people in Ireland use Facebook every single day
with about 29% of the audience between 25-34 years
• 32% use Twitter
• 0.7m log onto Twitter every day in Ireland with about
53% of the Audience between 15-24 years
STIR
(Safeguarding Teenage Intimate Relationships)
• 5 country study (Bulgaria, Cyprus, England, Italy and Norway)
• Connecting online and offline contexts and risks
• Findings on the incidence and impact in young people’s
intimate relationships (aged 14-17 years)
• Sending and receiving sexual images
http://stiritup.eu/app-and-resources/
STIR Findings on Incidence Rates and Impact
Finding
Young Women Young Men
Experienced interpersonal
violence and abuse ranged
50% - 66%
33% - 66%
Experienced negative impact
only following sexual violence
81% - 96%
------------
------------
60% - 75%
Experienced positive or no
impact
In all countries, young people were at least twice as likely to have sent a sexual image
or message compared to young people who had not been victimised; and in the UK
being asked for a sexual image was accepted as ‘normal’ by young people.
STIR Quotes from Teenagers
Quote from Carlo, 17, Italy:
If a naked picture of mine goes around the web, no problem…. for a girl
it is different…. Her reputation would be in trouble…
Quote from Erika, 17, Norway:
He walks along with her ‘whole life’ in his mobile phone,
ready to share it with anyone at any time
STIR Findings
In all 5 countries, young people experienced control and surveillance including:
Online Control
Offline Control
Being instructed not to chat with specific Limiting contact with friends
people or delete contacts
Being pressurised or forced to give
passwords for online accounts
Telling partners what to wear
Text conversations monitored or
receiving constant phone calls
Turning up uninvited and getting upset,
annoyed and angry if partner wanted to
do take part in activities without them
STIR Quote
‘feeling controlled as not even
my parents had ever done…’
Statistical Context: Domestic Violence and Digital Abuse
EU FRA Survey
Women’s Aid
Survey (UK)
Digital Trust
• 12% of women
experienced some
form of stalking
• 5% experienced
cyber stalking
• 50% of perpetrators
were partners or
ex-partners
• 41% of domestic
violence victims
that had been
helped by Women’s
Aid had been
tracked or harassed
using electronic
devices
• More than 50% of
abusive partners
used spyware or
some other form of
electronic
surveillance to stalk
their victims
(2015)
The reality is that women in Ireland are more likely to be stalked by a partner or ex
than by anybody else.
Digital Abuse Methods
16
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
7
5
4
3
3
1
Number of
Women
Cumulative Abusive Behaviours for 2 Women
Woman A
 Her abusive partner sends her/family/friends
emails/texts/instant messages that were
offensive/threatening
 He posted offensive comments about her on
internet
 He shared intimate photos/videos on the internet
or by mobile phone
 He spread lies and rumours about her on the
internet
 She reported to Gardai along with other serious
abuse and she also tried civil remedy
 Her abusive partner sends her/family/friends
emails/texts/instant messages that were
offensive/threatening
 He tracked her by installing electronic
spyware/surveillance on her computer/mobile
phone
 She had to stop using her phone and got a very
simple one so she can communicate with her
family and friends safely
 He continues to bombard her with texts
Woman B
Quotes from Testimonies Project - ELLEN
Offline:
 For a long while, I believed what he said about me; that I wasn’t attractive,
that I was stopping him from enjoying his life.
Online:
 He would text me, saying that I was old, fat and used up. That I wasn’t able to
take care of our son, and he could take him away from me.
Impact:
 He constantly hacked away at my self-esteem. It gave me a hole in my
stomach that I thought would never leave me.
Quotes from Testimonies Project - LISA
Offline:
 He stalked me after I left him. Sometimes in the dark, I’d see him in the
back garden.
Online:
 I was getting texts saying things like ‘get back to work, you bitch’ or ‘don’t
go out tonight bitch’ and calling me a ‘slut’ and a ‘cunt’ and a ‘whore’.
Impact:
 He was still trying to control me. I used to think he was under my bed
and that he was going to pounce and finish me off.
 I had this feeling that he wanted to kill me and that he wasn’t happy that
he hadn’t before things ended.
Remembering Stolen Lives
Thank You