This is in response to an email received a few years ago. I’ll be adding up – to-date information in this post. I’m so sorry for the delay.
Western countries, such as Australia, the US, Canada and the UK have made great strides towards LGBTQ+ equality in the past twenty years. However, it doesn’t mean that life is always easy for many LGBTQ+ people, especially youth.
A few years ago. a reader gave me some resources about the high rate of LGBTQ+ youth being bullied online.
According to a survey by VPNMentor:
- 73% of respondents were harassed or personally attacked online
- 50% of respondents received sexual harassment online
- Among LGBTQ+ respondents, asexual people felt most unsafe. Gay men reported being the most safe online
- Trans women were the gender group who felt least safe online whereas cis men reported feeling the most safe
This study included 695 participants. This is a small sample and I often take studies with small samples with a grain of salt.
Howeverm, in 2021, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)/conducted a slightly larger study. They found 41.1% of LGBTQ+ adolescents had experienced online discrimination. 28.4% reported experiencing gender – based discrimination.
Harassment of asexual people isn’t new
TW: this part of the post briefly mentions sexual violence
Unfortunately, the findings on the victimisation of asexual youth isn’t surprising, nor is it new.
In 2014, asexual author and advocate Julie Sondra Decker published The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction To Asexuality.
According to Decker, many asexual people experience ‘corrective’ rape and domestic violence because of their orientation. This is in part because people still don’t believe that asexuality exists or can be ‘fixed’ by force or coercion.
Asexual people, especially women, have experienced sexual harassment. Not only that, but victims are often blamed for their experiences. Victims are told they shouldn’t bring up their identity in the first place.
People get abused whether they’re out with their identity or not
Sometimes, people can’t win. Trans people risk abuse whether they’re out about their identity or not. 21% of transmen and 26% of transwomen had reported being outed without their consent.
Many responsdents were outed by classmates, or even friends. Many of the victims were blackmailed by the perpetrators.
Outing an LGBTQ+ person can be terrible for the individual. The person could lose their family or job. It can also exacerbate or cause cyber – bullying and a barrage of hate.
How people can feel safe online
Fortunately, there are ways you can combat online hate. These include:
- You can just report 5he abuse to the platform.
- Remove hateful comments off your profile/ page, etc yourself
- To limit risk, you can make lists or groups orivate and interact in these
- Remember, cyber – bullying and sexual harrassment are crimes. Don’t be afraid to alert police if this is happening to you
I can only hope cyber – bullying will become a thing of the past. Enough is enough. Everyone deserves to feel safe, both online and in the ‘real’ world.
If you are in Australia and are struggling, please contact Lifeline: 13 11 14.
If you or someone you love feels unsafe or is being victimised, call 000 (or your national emergency number).
If you are an LGBTQ+ young person, you can go to QLife.
