Online violence against women and girls: perpetration and international perspectives

Project Team

Project directors: Assoc. Professor Bridget Harris and Jessica Woolley

Project team:  (as above)

Project contact: Bridget.Harris@monash.edu Jess.Woolley1@monash.edu

About this project

This project sought to create an evidenced-based, well-referenced literature review, utilising existing knowledge, research, and analysis on the topic of online violence against women and girls, with a focus on these topics, ensuring that the literature review is original and has not been previously published. A minimum of three tenderers will be awarded a contract under Lot 2.

Perpetrator research, particularly in relation to motivations and mitigations, including online and offline media literacy intervention

and

International perspectives on the extent to which experiences and practices in the UK echo or differ from those in other countries, to inform policy in relation to standardisation.

Research aims

  1. To identify the strategies, motivations, and behaviours of perpetrators, including those known and unknown to victim/survivors, and members of structured and unstructured collectives.
  2. To explore the global prevalence and diverse manifestations of OVAWAG, including forms such as image-based sexual abuse, cyberstalking, online harassment, and technology-facilitated domestic and family violence.
  3. To assess the psychological, social, and economic impacts of OVAWAG on victim/survivors, with attention to intersectional factors such as gender, race, class, sexuality, and geographic location.
  4. To identify and analyse current prevention and intervention strategies for OVAWAG, and assess their effectiveness in disrupting and preventing OVAWAG.
  5. To highlight methodological and conceptual challenges in measuring OVAWAG, including inconsistencies in terminology, lack of intersectional approaches, and limitations in data collection and analysis.

Method

A narrative literature review using thematic analysis to synthesise global research on online violence against women and girls (OVAWAG), with a focus on perpetration, prevalence, victimisation, and interventions. We were informed by an advisory group comprising of experts on OVAWAG from across the world, who provided feedback on methodology, scope, and thematic direction.

The papers eligible for inclusion in the literature review were required to be:

  • Peer-reviewed and grey literature (books, chapters, reports).
  • Published from 2016 onwards (with exceptions for foundational works).
  • English-language or officially translated.
  • Focus on OVAWAG, perpetrator strategies, and international perspectives.

The search strategy involved searching using:

  • Artificial intelligence (using Elicit) to screen and rank relevant literature.
  • Traditional databases (Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar) and grey literature (Google).
  • Citation mining to trace influential sources and expand coverage.

Thematic analysis was undertaken, based on Thomas and Harden’s (2008) method: coding text, developing descriptive themes, and generating analytical themes. The analysis was informed by conceptual frameworks including coercive control, intersectionality, and feminist theory.

Project Outputs

To be announced

Funding Acknowledgment

United Kingdom Government; Office of Communications