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A Reflection
My main laptop recently crashed, preventing me from sharing a GenAI artwork from the digital collection I am currently creating. This online exhibition documents my experience as I navigate one of the most challenging chapters of my life, a period defined by sustained cyber-harassment, defamation, and psychological abuse for almost 3 years now.
Despite this technical setback, I did not want to miss the opportunity to share a brief reflection on a critical aspect of this experience. I cannot comprehend how, in the heart of a modern society, such severe abuse can be so widely ignored. We are talking about crimes that violate a woman's fundamental dignity, including sexual offenses that can escalate to deeply degrading conditions like human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
I am appalled by the widespread indifference I have witnessed at all scales online and offline. It becomes even more painful when the very people expected to help, mock, betray, and some even turn into abusers themselves. They change into perpetrators of injustice, leveraging social status and power to coerce and exploit. How does this happen? How did we get here? Was I the only one blind to this vulnerability, or do others see it too? If they do, are we living in "parallel societies"—coexisting in structures that project one reality while masking much darker intentions?
I feel deeply let down by "the system." I grew up believing that fundamental human rights were universal values protected by law. I truly believed I lived in one of the safest places on Earth. As a citizen of one of the world's strongest democracies, I never imagined I would have to worry about my rights being stripped away. Now, that sense of security feels like a fantasy. In reality, it feels as if there are no rights, and the internet has devolved into a lawless "Wild West." I cannot understand how this is happening, or why people choose to doubt me—the victim of cyber abuse—while the perpetrator is shielded by silence. He remains in the shadows, violating my dignity and my basic right to live in freedom, yet his actions go completely unaddressed.
We urgently need to reconsider how we confront violence, especially psychological torture, and particularly against women in digital spaces. Many of our offline societal issues, like misogyny, racism, and social exclusion, are simply migrating online, where traditionally marginalized groups are being explicitly targeted.
When will we finally confront these issues and call them what they are? A serious offence to our humanity and a woman's dignity. I believe that when we finally do, we will identify solutions that protect not just vulnerable groups, but the whole of society. After all, we are all part of it.
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