Sexual cyberviolence: When violence reaches girls' screens

When Jimena was 14 years old I wanted to disappear from the world.He was in eighth grade and while learning about the linear equations, a photo of her and a friend of her age in a swimsuit circulated on several social networks of her community.There, adult and unknown men shared the photo as if it were pornography and said "easy" and "tierrosa".

At that time I did not understand that some people could pervert an innocent photo.They made her feel that she was not a person, but rather an object.Although it is not the only moment in his life in which he has felt like that, eight years later that memory still breaks the spirit.

"I was alone, it was a girl and nobody protected me," says the young Puntarenense of now 22 years.

Given the growth of connectivity in Costa Rica in recent years, people who exercise gender violence took platforms to attack women in a new form, especially minors. La violencia sexual virtual a menores, como el acoso y la distribución de fotos, es unproblema que pone en riesgo la calidad de vida de las niñas y adolescentes del país.

Having, modifying and spreading intimate photos of someone else without their consent is a form of sexual violence.It is also a crime in Costa Rica, according to article 196 of the Criminal Code of the Country that catalogs it as "Violation of Personal Data".The aggressor can be sentenced up to four years in jail.

The distribution or possession of intimate photos of minors is punishable by laws as child pornography. El abusador puede ser penalizado hasta con ocho años en prisión, sin importar que también sea menor de edad.

It is not a mistake, it is sexual violence

Las niñas y adolescentes son de los grupos más susceptibles a sufrir violencia sexual en espacios virtuales, afirma el director ejecutivo de la fundación Paniamor, Oscar Valverde.

In networks, minors are also more vulnerable to living sexual harassment, sexual blackmail, improper relationships and can even deceive them with false profiles by groups dedicated to sexual exploitation.

Only in 2019, 249 women denounced the judiciary to be victims of disseminating their intimate photos. En el 2020 la cifra fue de 147 denunciantes.This is shown by the institution's data.

At that time Jimena did not legally denounced and did not tell her parents, because she did not trust that they would understand what she was living.Carried alone with the pain and mourning of abuse.

The mourning of virtual sexual violence

Fernanda Membreño also lived online sexual violence at age 17.When he was eleventh at a private school in Heredia, he sent some intimate photographs to one of his closest friends. Días después Fernanda descubrió que su amigo tenía un grupo de Facebook llamado “Calles de Membreño”, donde difundía desde hace años sus desnudos con otras 10 personas del colegio.In the group there were photos of her since she was 14 years old.

“I felt super bad, I felt super used.They were people who saw how my friends and betrayed my trust, they had no minimum of respect for me, ”says the young woman of now.

El centro australiano de salud mental y resiliencia para jóvenes Reach Out destaca que nunca es culpa de la víctima que alguien más distribuya sus fotos íntimas. Es un asunto de consentimiento: la víctima consintió enviar las fotos para que el alguien más las viera, pero no consintió que ese alguien más las distribuyera o usara para otros fines.

In school nobody supported her emotionally or sanctioned her abusers, although, according to her, school teachers knew what happened.The situation was "under the carpet" and she had to continue studying with the group members until her graduation.

Las escuelas y colegios de Costa Rica no cuentan con un protocolo para prevenir o ayudar a las mujeres víctimas de este tipo de delitos, según explica la activista feminista y exdirectora de la Agencia de Protección de Datos de los Habitantes (ProdHab), Ana Karen Cortés.

"That is why people do not know that these types of cases are denouncing and not adults know how to attend to the victim and then only ignore it," he adds.

El Poder Judicial tiene múltiples categorías para procesar penalmente a personas que cometen los diversos tipos de violencia sexual digital, como la seducción o encuentro con menores por vías electrónicas y la tentativa de abuso sexual, por ejemplo si alguien amenaza a una menor en redes de violarla o abusarla.

However, according to Cortés, young women do not know that these processes exist or understand the mechanisms to make complaints.

Another of the biggest problems that the expert exposes is anonymity.Not necessarily all members of these groups present their real identity when participating in these platforms.Without an identity, laws take longer to condemn crimes.

The men who mask

El director ejecutivo de la fundación Paniamor, Oscar Valverde, explica que otro de los delitos sexuales virtuales más comunes es el “grooming”. Este término inglés significa “acoso sexual a menores de edad por parte de una persona mayor de edad a través de medios digitales, fundamentalmente mediante chats y redes sociales”, según la Real Academia Española.

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Cristy lived it when he was 15, more than ten years ago. En ese entonces el mejor amigo de su hermano, de 20 años, consiguió su número de teléfono.At first the messages were casual, but in a short time he began to ask him if he already masturbated or that if he could send sexual photos to "help her" to do so.

For years he continued writing to send him pornographic videos or ask him about masturbation.When she had a couple a year later, she wrote to ask if her boyfriend "satisfied her enough".The fear for online harassment exceeded that dimension.Cristy had to see him at his family's house and in the church where he also attended.

The trauma returned this year when that person answered a story on Instagram with sexual tones. “Recordé todo lo que hizo y me morí del asco”, cuenta la joven de San José.

Since then he has nightmares and his anxiety increased.Although when he was a teenager he says that he did not understand the dimension of what was happening to him, years later he knows that he lived an abuse situation and that that person took advantage of his age to hurt him.

Grooming is typified in Costa Rica as "seduction or meeting of minors by electronic means" and the law penalizes it with up to three years in prison. Aunque el caso de Cristy involucra a una persona conocida, el delito es aún más peligroso cuando los abusadores crean perfiles falsos en redes sociales únicamente para buscar menores.

Although Cristy denounced his abuser years later with his family, the brother who is the best friend of his aggressor ignored his story and continued with friendship. Actualmente tiene una red de apoyo con las mujeres de su familia y sus amigas que la están ayudando a superar el caso.

"Today it is still super difficult to talk about this with anyone," says the girl of now 28 years old.

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Education is key to preventing

The three stories share the distrust that the victims had with their parents and adult responsible at that time.They also agree that they failed to report, because they did not know mechanisms to do so.

The data protection expert, Ana Karen Cortés, states that Costa Rica schools should train minors in digital security and in the mechanisms available to defend themselves against these crimes.She and Valverde also point to the need to sensitize minors so that these crimes do not commit.

Responsibility is not only minors. Para Valverde, las personas adultas deben estar en constante atención integral a los niños, niñas y adolescentes que están a su cargo, pues este tipo de delitos hacen sentir a las víctimas que “no tienen dónde ir”. El director recomienda a los padres de familia tener conversaciones empáticas con sus hijas e hijos sobre estos temas, donde ellos no sientan que los juzgan o penalizan.

“An adult woman even has more resources to get out of a situation of violence than a teenager.They (minors) are in a stage of development that make it difficult to leave without help, because there is not only economic but emotional dependence on their parents or guardians.Then it is the adult's responsibility to help them, ”explains the psychologist.

Fernanda, Cristy and Jimena are still trying to overcome the abuses that marked their adolescence. Las tres, sin conocerse, dicen que cuentan su historia para procesar que lo que les pasó fue un delito y para ayudar a otras adolescentes que lean esto.Or as Fernanda says "to read the story and know that they are not alone".

*Note from the journalist: some names of the victims are fictitious.They asked to modify them to protect their integrity.