Offline Wounds: A Sauti Session Dialogue on Confronting Digital Violence
Nearly a week ago, we joined Sauti Sessions and Baraza Media Lab to address the urgent crisis of digital violence and its serious offline impacts. "Online Wounds" gathered stakeholders, from scholars to young feminist organisations, to examine Technologically Facilitated Gender Based Violence, a rising online gender crisis in Kenya, and its implications for gender equality.
Digital violence happens behind screens, but its harm is deeply felt in homes, workplaces, and communities, sometimes with fatal outcomes. This session brings visibility to these impacts and offers a forum for urgent public dialogue, uniting diverse voices to drive real progress on policies preventing and responding to gender-based violence.
The Changing Landscape of Gender-Based Violence
Gender-based violence has evolved. Since COVID-19, this crisis has intensified. Technological abuse, femicide, emotional and economic violence are now as common as physical violence. Digital platforms, once empowering, now increasingly target, silence, and harm women and girls.
Across Africa, online violence includes doxing, cyberstalking, blackmail, non-consensual image sharing, harassment, revenge porn, and coordinated attacks. These abuses are not just digital; they cause real psychological, social, and economic harm. They can even escalate to femicide.
This crisis is not limited to Kenya. Solidarity across the continent matters. For example, South Africa’s “Total Shutdown on Femicide” shows that digital and offline violence against women and girls is a global emergency.
Recently, we supported Usikimye and Creatives Garage on the MASKANI Exhibition County Tour, which served both as a remembrance for lives lost to femicide and as a collective call to STOP KILLING WOMEN. Many of these tragedies were facilitated, escalated, or normalised through online platforms.
Why This Conversation Matters Now
The 2025 16 Days of Activism theme, “UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls,” is especially timely. Digital violence is a central aspect of the broader GBV crisis, contributing to fear, trauma, self-censorship, professional harm, and, in many cases, physical danger.
This edition of Sauti Sessions, with hbs, seeks to harness collective women’s rights activism, feminist solidarity, and youth leadership. It focuses on demanding accountability and driving real change on gender-based violence.
The creative elements showcased are more than artistic expressions. They are tools for resistance, reflection, and advocacy. They encourage us to reconsider our support for one another and work toward safer digital and physical environments.
We stand in solidarity with victims of femicide, survivors of GBV, and the organisations working tirelessly to pursue justice, challenge harmful norms, and envision safer futures for all women and girls.
Kenya must ensure digital spaces empower, not harm. Achieving this demands a digital ecosystem built on safety, responsibility, and accountability.
- Stronger regulations to protect against online abuse
- Survivor-centred reporting mechanisms that work
- Responsible media practices that avoid sensationalism and uphold dignity
- A cultural shift where online violence is actively condemned, not normalised
We aim for today’s conversations to ignite partnerships, reinforce advocacy, and result in actions that make digital spaces safe and empowering for all.
As we begin the 16 Days of Activism, reaffirm your commitment to building a Kenya where women and girls are safe, supported, and free, both online and offline. Take action today, speak out, support survivors, and advocate for change within your networks and communities.
Full live stream availabe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-HSb8wg8nk&t=897s