By Kahless Jaden Hameed
Image Credit: Outlook India
Social media is a critical means of communication in the digital age and has grown beyond its original purpose to encompass many different functions. It now serves as a space for activism, sharing news, promoting businesses, and more.
In the COVID-19 pandemic era we live in, social media has been a vital player in our lives, ensuring we can maintain a sense of community and stay connected even during lockdowns, but it is not without its negatives.
Increased use of social media also means an increase in exposure to situations of online violence and exploitation. Online violence manifests in many ways, like stalking, doxxing, threats, and or sexual harassment.
For a marginalized community like the LGBTQ+ community, the risk is amplified tenfold due to their gender identities and sexual orientations. In this case, for the transgender community, online spaces could turn out to be hazardous, and interactions with strangers could turn sour in a heartbeat.
Is Social Media a Reflection of Society?
As a vulnerable segment of society, the trans community is not at ease to simply come out and be themselves and often turn to social media to build a community where they feel they belong or raise awareness about trans rights issues and share resources.
Yet, it is undeniable that the community faces an onslaught of online violence in varying forms and at varying degrees at any given time, and often, these attacks are a reflection of societal views offline.
This makes sense in a global context, as better records and reporting make it easier to compare and contrast, but what about in a Sri Lankan context?
In their in-depth report titled ‘Somewhere Only, We Know Gender, sexualities, and sexual behavior on the internet in Sri Lanka,’ Sachini Perera and Zainab Ibrahim explore how Sri Lankan queer people navigate online spaces against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s rigid regulation of the community.
The report states that 62% of the respondents felt that offline violence is reflected online. “During interviews, we learned that while many respondents see the line between online and offline worlds blurring, they still made conscious decisions to use these as different spaces in which they would express themselves, especially their gender identity and sexuality, in differing and often strategic ways,” the authors said.
The added caution has become necessary for the community to fight off attempts at online harassment and exploitation.
Venasa Transgender Network Founder Thenu, who primarily uses social media for activism purposes, said: “We take precautions when accepting followers and friends through our official pages, and similarly exercise precautions on our YouTube channel. This may be why we haven’t faced any harassment-related issues, but some of our members have shared stories of harassment online. They’ve been subjected to threats and slurs, and their photos and details were shared.”
When it comes to the community’s perception—both online and offline—and their growing visibility, trans women often get pushed to the forefront, which leads to an added layer of unsolicited attention and harassment. But how has this visibility impacted the way our society addresses the challenges they face?
“For International Women’s Day, the Humans Rights Commission had an event where two professors spoke about the economic, social, and health issues women faced during COVID. At the last discussion, there was a speech on gender minorities and other minority groups and their issues. In the statistics regarding women, trans women were excluded. Trans women are women. How can you have statistics about the challenges women face while excluding a group of women?” Thenu challenged.
This raises more questions: Do the statistics on online violence against women also exclude trans women? If so, then how accurate are they overall? If they are not, then how can we implement holistic measures to protect individuals online while leaving out portions of our society?
Targeted Harassment
In attempts to address and curb cyberviolence, the trans community has been woefully underrepresented. Actress, artist, and performance poet Vasi highlighted how the current mechanism in place is not accessible to everyone and how it can be challenging to get the support you need when faced with such a situation.
“I know people who’ve won cyberviolence cases. We have made some progress in terms of that, but it’s not available to everyone. You need to be well-connected in case you are being attacked. You need to make sure you have a lot of good friends and know how to defend yourself. It’s unfortunate that you have to turn to somebody else to protect yourself.”
“Online harassment can be quite triggering,” she added. “Knowing whom to call or knowing whom to speak to is important, and not everyone has that, and people are afraid to make complaints to the authorities.”
Sri Lanka’s legal framework does not list cyberbullying as separate, which leaves people vulnerable to potential attackers online. Still, specific provisions enable victims of online violence to take action against attackers.
Despite this, many are dissuaded from seeking to take action due to many reasons, such as the lack of awareness of such measures, mistrust in the legal system, financial costs, and the length of court proceedings.
Vasi herself has experienced online harassment. “Recently, on Facebook, this man just got angry that all my cishet girlfriends were complimenting a picture I posted of myself. He started using slurs, and then I started getting a lot of calls from this person on Messenger, just for the sake of insulting me. I fought back by spamming him with gifs and memes. I troll back. That’s how I fight these people.”
This is sadly the reality for many trans people online. But aside from the more obvious cases of online harassment, there is an abundance of microaggression against the community that has been normalized, particularly in Sri Lankan circles.
Building a Community Online
Social media is a great way to build a community, and it has become a safe haven for many youth and elders alike. Yet sometimes that sense of community is lost due to certain exclusionary acts.
Recently, an LGBTQ+ page began circulating from its official account a message, inviting people to join a safe space for cis lesbian/bisexual/queer women, but leaving out trans people. The reasoning behind it was that cis queer women need a space separate from that of all other identities to feel safe and form a community.
Jude, a local trans activist, regarding this, stated: “Trans women are women. They just want to be included. They aren’t encroaching on your space. The reason we built a community is to be a part of the community.” Many trans women are queer, too, and are part of WLW circles, but this does not stop them from being excluded from cis-founded WLW groups.
Jude went on to explain that exclusion is not the only issue when networking with people online. There are hidden obstacles in the form of potentially dangerous individuals who can easily exploit vulnerable queer people—particularly children, who are more dependent on social media than the average adults for interaction with other members of the LGBTQ+ community. “You could easily get in touch with the wrong type of person, and that can be dangerous,” they said.
Social media could also be beneficial if used right (and with a little bit of luck). “I signed up for a binder giveaway and had to DM a stranger an address from where I’d collect the binder if I won. I had to reach out to my school’s guidance counselor, who arranged for me to receive the package at school. I couldn’t have it delivered to my house because of my parents.”
“It could have all gone very badly, but luckily, it didn’t, and I have my binder now. It’s great,” they added.
Embracing Discourse
Social media has made it very easy to obtain information of events thousands of miles away within mere seconds, which has contributed to furthering discourse (in both positive and negative ways) on trans people.
The Sri Lankan online community has also been a vocal part of this conversation, as evidenced by the J.K. Rowling Twitter war and the US anti-trans bathroom bill.
Trans activist Vishane, speaking on how he sees Sri Lankans reacting to international news online, said:
“What I’ve observed in the Sri Lankan context when people argue about these things is that many of them side with the oppressors, not the oppressed.”
This mentality seems to extend to conversations about trans people in general.
“I’ve personally received support from my friends and peers online, but I think that some of them are supportive of me, not the community as a whole. The younger generation seems to be more ‘woke’ than the older generation, at least they try to be. Still, the sad thing is that even within the LGBTQ+ community, there are Trans-Exclusionary Feminists (TERFs),” he added.
Most of the community’s negative perceptions become more blatant online, where there is a safe distance between those making the claims and the people they are targeted at.
Vishane suggests that a lack of understanding of intersectionality may be contributing to the exacerbation of tensions online. As information crosses over rapidly from one party to the next without a border to hinder them, small arguments tend to blow up and become larger discourse.
“It’s not a particular issue. There is no single side. A person’s identity isn’t just one thing. If I say I’m a trans man, it’s not just that I’m a man. I would be a trans man of colour. I could be an atheist or a Buddhist trans man,” Vishane elaborated, adding that intersectionality essential because no issue can be discussed without considering the intersecting identities of the individuals involved.
Despite social media and the digital landscape overall extending the option of anonymity for those who do not want to reveal their identities in fear of persecution, it also provides the same for people who wish to attack vulnerable communities. This is the primary source of worry for the trans community of navigating the digital sphere that our interviewees unanimously agreed on.
While the internet remains a vital source of information for members of the LGBTQ+ community, it also presents threats and harassment, and online violence faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community. The rapid spread of misinformation contributes to the distortion of people’s perception of the community. It also causes intra-community issues through unequal access to information.
Yet in chapter 3 of a Women in Media study, titled ‘Disrupting the Binary Code’, it is evident through the respondents’ choices to the survey that the internet is critical in exploring and understanding one’s sexuality and gender identity.
A majority of the respondents (93%) use the internet to access “LGBTQ+ related news from around the world”, as well as to consume community-centric/produced art, such as movies, TV shows, and more (79%). The internet also provides information regarding LGBTQ+ legal and policy issues in Sri Lanka and links individuals to organizations to provide them with assistance.
This makes it clear that simply ‘staying off the internet’ could do more harm than good for community members. These significantly younger individuals require a safe space away from potentially toxic environments to question their sexual orientation and gender identity.
The only viable option is to put in place better safety measures and reporting mechanisms to improve people’s online experience and keep them safe from harassment and misinformation and shielded from online violence.
Improving Online Safety
Social media is a tool at our disposal, but it is also a web of good and bad experiences intertwined. Navigating social media safely is an impossible task for most people but more so for the most vulnerable amongst us.
When asked what could be done to improve online safety for trans people, most interviewees felt that anonymity was the safest bet. It could also force a wedge between the individual and the online community they wish to be a part of.
While the relevant authorities need to acknowledge this problem exists and to include trans people in future initiatives to boost cybersafety, that alone will not end cyberviolence against the community. Awareness must be raised proactively on the subject, and the current mechanisms must be revamped to provide a hassle-free method of reporting such incidents without burdening the victims.
This will help ensure a safer online experience for all.
About the Writer
Kahless Jaden Hameed is a trans man from Colombo. He has worked as a copywriter, sub-editor and journalist, and is currently a Creative Associate at Roar Global. His key focus involves researching and dissecting the socioeconomic factors in the marginalization of communities in Sri Lanka, including minority religious groups, as well as the disabled and queer community. His interests include history, natural and social sciences, art, and music.