9 November 2025
As we observe the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence this year, the focus is on a growing, often overlooked threat: digital violence against women and girls. While conversations around domestic and sexual violence have become more common, the online dimension of abuse is frequently misunderstood or minimized. Yet, for survivors, digital violence can be just as pervasive, harmful, and controlling as in-person abuse. In fact, digital violence often facilitates coercive control in ways that are harder to detect and navigate.
Digital violence includes behaviors such as cyber-harassment, stalking, image-based abuse (like revenge porn), doxxing, and intimidation through social media or messaging platforms. These acts are often extensions of traditional abuse, giving perpetrators innovative ways to control, intimidate, or isolate survivors. Threatening messages, sharing intimate images without consent, or tracking a survivor’s location digitally can all have profound emotional, psychological, and social impacts.
The exposure to coercive or violent behaviors online can also desensitize individuals to abuse, while technological advances—though intended for good—can be misused to perpetuate harm. Survivors often face challenges in effectively safety planning due to the rapidly evolving technological landscape. These digital harms can compound existing abuse, making the pursuit of safety more complex and precarious.
The consequences of digital violence are real and far-reaching. Survivors may experience heightened anxiety, trauma triggers, and fear for personal safety. Digital abuse can interfere with work, school, and social connections, creating a sense of isolation. Marginalized communities—including LGBTQIA+ individuals, young people, undocumented people, and those already navigating barriers to support—are disproportionately affected. Recognizing these patterns is essential for anyone working in advocacy, social services, or the legal system.
Digital violence rarely exists in isolation—it intersects with other forms of abuse. Survivors of domestic or sexual violence may find that digital harassment compounds trauma, complicating safety planning and recovery. Understanding these connections is critical to providing trauma-informed, survivor-led support.
Raising awareness is the first step toward prevention and support. Understanding digital violence allows us to challenge systemic gaps in protection, hold institutions and platforms accountable, and ensure that survivors receive the care and validation they deserve.
Digital violence exists on a spectrum and is increasingly insidious, as technology has become an integral part of everyday life. Safety planning must address the multiple, interconnected harms survivors face. This complexity is part of what makes trauma from gender-based violence so challenging—the overlapping forms of abuse, the persistent nature of digital harm, and the conditioning created by coercive control.
Professionals, allies, and organizations play a critical role in addressing digital violence:
Recognize digital violence: Understand the signs and the impact it can have.
Ask safe, trauma-informed questions: Engage survivors with care, without judgment or blame.
Provide resources and support: Connect survivors to safety planning strategies and professional help.
For organizations, legal teams, and advocacy programs, integrating digital violence awareness into training and workshops is essential. I provide trauma-informed workshops, coaching, and expert witness consulting that equip professionals to recognize, respond to, and prevent digital abuse while centering survivors’ needs.
This year, the 16 Days of Activism is a call to UNiTE against digital violence. Whether you are a survivor, advocate, or professional, your engagement matters. Educate yourself and your communities, participate in awareness campaigns, and ensure that survivors have access to resources that protect their safety and dignity.
To schedule a consultation, workshop, or coaching session on digital safety, trauma-informed advocacy, or comprehensive gender-based violence awareness, contact me at klopez@life-recovery.net or 973‑318‑1767. Together, we can make the digital space safer and support survivors on their journey toward healing and empowerment.
As someone who has served survivors of gender-based violence for over a decade, I write this not only as an advocate but also as a survivor. My professional journey has taken me from frontline advocacy to founding L.I.F.E. Recovery, Training, & Coaching, where I facilitate trainings, provide coaching, and serve as an expert witness in cases involving domestic and sexual violence, trauma recovery, coercive control, and substance use.
I founded my business to disrupt silos and bring the conversation about domestic violence to spaces where it is often ignored. Systems must be held accountable, and survivors deserve culturally humble, trauma-informed support at every stage of their journey. Cases like Romeca’s reinforce why advocacy and reform cannot wait.
For more information, or to connect, please visit life-recovery.net or reach out to klopez@life-recovery.net
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please contact the National Network to End Domestic Violence at: 1800-799-SAFE (7233)
For more information on what New Jersey is doing to combat domestic violence, please go to: NJCEDV.org