Online Sexual Violence in Egypt
Documenting and Analyzing Incidents of Online Sexual Coercion and Extortion (2019-2022)
Women are more likely to experience online sexual coercion and extortion: The study
found a consistent pattern, with 83% of victims/survivors being female and 80% of perpetrators
being male, aligning with well-documented structural inequality trends in sexual violence (13)
This mirrors broader societal dynamics observed in various studies. Despite a digital gender
gap (48% of women using the internet versus 58% of men worldwide), women still face a higher
likelihood of cyber violence(14). In 2023, a global assessment of tech-facilitated violence reflected these gendered results, with 58% of OSCE victims/survivors being women and 43% men.
Relation of Perpetrator to Victim: The study also revealed that a majority of perpetrators
(57.4%) were strangers to their victims/survivors, consistent with existing literature. In a 2020
survey in Egypt, 92.6% of cyber-violence perpetrators, often involved in harassment and cyberstalking, were unknown to the victims/survivors(15). Similar findings were observed in a 2020
study in Nepal, where 62% of identified abuse originated from strangers or anonymous
sources(16). A 2022 comparative study on digital sexual violence in post-COVID Egypt showed
that only 17.3% of participants knew their perpetrator, highlighting a sharp contrast with physical
sexual assault, where most perpetrators are known to the victim.(17)(18) , This distinction underscores the impact of anonymity, removing protective factors for victims/survivors and contributing to an increased prevalence of OSCE.
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