In 2013, at a time when attention for this issue was still very limited and no research on the topic existed in India, I, together with colleagues at the Internet Democracy Project published a ground-breaking research study titled ‘Don’t Let It Stand! An Exploratory Study of Women and Verbal Abuse Online in India’. The study examined in-depth 17 Indian women’s experiences of online abuse, where and why the abuse occurred, how women dealt with it, and when – if at all – the law was helpful.

Several years later, attention to gender and online abuse had exploded, but the picture of the Internet that emerged from those stories was one of a very scare place, especially for women. You’d almost forget that women were continuing en masse to use and enjoy a range of virtual spaces, and that while doing so, they were constantly developing strategies to address online abuse.

Building on our earlier study as well as additional research, we therefore decided to build ‘Don’t Let It Stand! A Guide to Addressing Online Abuse’, to showcase some of these strategies, to provide inspiration and to remind all of us that women do not have to be powerless in the face of such harassment. The illustrations alone make it well-worth to check it out, I would say!

Today, as a consultant, I continue to work extensively on TFGBV, including with Point of View,India, and the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada, where I am also a Senior Fellow.