A feminist refuge from tech-facilitated gender based violence

Vita Activa

Throughout LAC, journalists, communicators and activists often find themselves at the receiving end of online violence and attacks that have gendered dimensions.

A growing number of initiatives are fighting this concerning trend throughout the region, actively building strategies to support those impacted by technology facilitated gender based violence, or TFGBV,  and paving the way to what could be healthier information ecosystems for LAC. 

One of those initiatives is Vita Activa, a helpline founded in 2019 that provides psychological and digital first aid for women and LGBTIQ+ people, journalists, activists and human rights defenders who face online gender-based violence, stress, anxiety, chronic fatigue, trauma and pain.

Nicole Martin, director at Vita Activa, says: “We always quote this data from IWMF that says that one in three women journalists consider leaving the profession because of online attacks and threats. That’s very dangerous for the information ecosystem, isn’t it? 

Nicole shares how Vita Activa’s main working tools are active listening and psychological first aid, since dealing with TFGBV is a destabilizing and emotionally difficult experience, which often leaves people who experience it feeling like they have lost autonomy and control:

“Many times in a crisis one feels as if one loses control or as if the control of one’s own life has been taken away, perhaps that it seems that now one’s own life is in the hands of someone else. Our helpline accompaniment is specifically dedicated to providing psychological first aid to balance, focus and restore the person’s sense of control.”