On 28th August 2018, Feminism in India founder Japleen Pasricha hosted a workshop for college students on online harassment against women and digital security as a part of the #SafetySummit organised by She The People.
The #SafetySummit was a conference about the various ways through which we could better understand our digital environment, and the ways in which women navigate them.
The internet is a great tool for women to find expression – a voice that we may not be granted in the offline world. However, it is a double-edged sword, and women face multiple threats on the internet – from gendered abuse and harassment, to image-based sexual abuse (revenge porn), doxxing, stalking and hacking. Just like the offline world, the online realm too is beset by patriarchy.
We are at the #SafetySummit by @SheThePeopleTV, where FII founder @japna_p is hosting a workshop on how to combat online violence against women. #DigitalHifazat pic.twitter.com/6mbc8Yz8BT
— Feminism in India (@FeminismInIndia) August 28, 2018
The #SafetySummit included panel discussions by experts in various fields, such as fake news, online violence against women, online law enforcement, and finally concluded with FII’s workshop on digital safety and security for college students.
Workshop on online safety: Tools and Methodologies by @japna_p of @FeminismInIndia #safetysummit #DigitalHifazat pic.twitter.com/bVkbVd1L9v
— SheThePeople (@SheThePeopleTV) August 28, 2018
The workshop was attended by about 40-50 students from colleges and universities across Delhi, and was inclusive, participatory and fun! It started off with an activity to judge how strong our passwords were – did our participants’ passwords have enough special characters and did they steer clear of easy tells like birthdates and hometowns? The participants took a step forward or back depending on their password strengths as the trainer (Japleen Pasricha) asked them a series of questions.
Starting with a fun interactive exercise on the strength of passwords! #DigitalHifazat #SafetySummit pic.twitter.com/XjPAE55nz3
— Feminism in India (@FeminismInIndia) August 28, 2018
What came after was a brief overview of ways in which we could secure our digital footprints and strengthen security on our online profiles, like enabling two factor authentication on our devices, keeping a Google alert on our names to check what was being said about us on the internet, and employing social media channels’ privacy settings to the fullest as well as being aware of their privacy policies.
How to keep yourself secure ?
handy resource guide developed by @FeminismInIndia #DigitalHifazat at #SafetySummit pic.twitter.com/AjqeBufYDB— Siddharth Mohite (@siddhar_th) August 28, 2018
Next came an interactive exercise where participants were split into groups of four and five and asked to come up with strategies to combat online harassment. Participants came up with extremely out-of-the-box solutions, such as making sure you had a support system community that could aid in mass reporting of accounts that were harassing or trolling people, and stressed on the importance of teaching our parents’ generation the basics of digital security so that they are not vulnerable to online threats such as phishing and fake news.
Participants share their tactics to combat harassment. Peer-to-peer skill sharing of digital safety, teaching our parents digital security, screenshots of abusive messages, mass reporting of abusive accounts, calling out the trolls are some of the excellent tips! #DigitalHifazat pic.twitter.com/AhkI5xuNdZ
— Feminism in India (@FeminismInIndia) August 28, 2018
The participants ended the workshop by narrating their own personal experiences of harassment, and how they had fought against it.
FII thanks She The People for organising such an excellent conference packed with invigorating ideas.
Feminism in India conducts similar workshops in schools, colleges and organizations. If you want to get in touch with us for a similar workshop, please email japleen@feminisminindia.com.
Featured Image Credit: Vandita Morarka
