Technology facilitated sexual violence: a comparative study between working and non-working females in Egypt before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine measures policies increased Internet usage, leading to technological hazards as technology facilitated sexual violence (TFSV). Aim: The current work aimed to assess TFSV among working and non-working Egyptian females before and during COVID-19. Methods: The current work is a cross-sectional observational comparative study using an anonymous online questionnaire distributed through social platforms among working and non-working Egyptian females. Results: TFSV was reported by 50.3% of the participants; however, regarding some forms of digital sexual violence, there was a significant decrease during COVID-19 lockdown than before it, considering; threatened creation form (7.8%, 12.0%; p = 0.017); non-consensual pornography (31.4%, 51.9%; p < 0.001) and online sexual harassment and cyber-stalking types (80.9%, 89.4%; p < 0.001). Only 17.3% of the study participants knew the identity of the perpetrator. TFSV led 6.4% to abstain from social media, and 3.9% reported the incident to a law agency. Conclusions: The current study revealed that almost half of women experienced TFSV. Although time spent on the Internet by the whole participants during the pandemic was significantly higher than before, there was a significant decrease in some types of TFSV. The current study revealed that divorced females working in non-governmental sectors experienced harassment more significantly than others. There is crucial importance to set laws and penalties against perpetrators of TFSV to provide a safe technological environment for women.