Prevalence and Motivations for Technology-facilitated Gender- and Sexuality-based Violence Among Adults: A Mixed-methods Study

Abstract

Technology-facilitated gender- and sexuality-based violence (TFGSV) refers to the set of behaviors through which technology is used to harm people because of their sexual or gender identities. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of the perpetration of different forms of TFGSV among adults, to analyze possible gender and age differences, and to explore the motivations behind these aggressive acts. A mixed-methods approach was employed to integrate quantitative data (N = 2,316, 69% women; Mage = 27.22, SDage = 10.169) with qualitative open-ended data (n = 239, 61.5% women; Mage= 26.3, SDage = 8.38) to gain a more in-depth understanding of TFGSV perpetration and its motivations. The results that TFGSV is a prevalent issue among all age groups and 25.6% of the participants had perpetrated some form of it. In addition, although men are the main perpetrators, women and non-binary people may also be involved in TFGSV perpetration. The main motivations behind TFGSV perpetration included expressing ideological disagreement, rejecting someone, self-defense or defending others, managing unpleasant emotions, socializing, and a lack of reflection or awareness. Another motivation for sharing TFGSV content was to increase awareness of this type of aggression by making it visible to others. These results suggests that prevention programs should target all age groups and consider all the motivations behind the perpetration of TFGSV.