With Amanda Arella at YWCA Canada. Those who are young face elevated risks of gendered digital harm. Statistics Canada found that, among those aged 18 to 29 years, young women were more often the target of online abuse, with a prevalence almost double the rate of young men. The gender difference was especially pronounced for receiving unwanted sexually suggestive or explicit material, where young women were almost three times as likely to be targeted as young men. 

YWCA Canada found that 44% of women and gender-diverse people aged 16 to 30 report having been personally targeted by hate speech online. Those most targeted include people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, Indigenous people, and Black people. 

We’re at the end of our series delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators. We’ve been talking about the problem and what we can do to change it. We’ve offered practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we’ve talked about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Amanda Arella is the Director of Public Policy, Advocacy, and Strategic Communications at YWCA Canada. Amanda is a lawyer, strategic thinker, and passionate advocate for gender equity. She leads advocacy for feminist regulatory responses to gendered online hate, grounded in the recommendations of youth survivors of online hate and technology-facilitated violence. Prior to joining YWCA Canada, Amanda honed her advocacy skills as a litigator at a national law firm, with a focus on administrative, privacy, and health law.   

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: #BlockHate: Centering Survivors and Taking Action on Gendered Online Hate in Canada, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Leigh Naturkach at the Mosaic Institute. We’re still not doing enough to end gendered digital hate, harassment, and abuse on a large scale. Perhaps that can give us the impression that the public doesn’t care or we’re all too complacent to do anything about it. 

The numbers tell us otherwise. In 2023, the Canadian Women’s Foundation found that 88% of people in Canada believe we need to make changes so online spaces are safer for everyone. Fifty-eight per cent of women in particular strongly agree with this idea. Likewise, 88% of people in Canada believe social media companies have a responsibility to keep users safe from hate and abuse on their platforms. 

Despite outsized voices to the contrary, the vast majority of people in Canada want safer digital spaces and we want accountability for users. 

We’re almost at the end of our series delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators. We’ve been talking about the problem and what we can do to change it. We’ve offered practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we’ve talked about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Leigh Naturkach is Executive Director at the Mosaic Institute. Prior to this, Leigh worked at Women’s College Hospital Foundation, AIDS Committee of Toronto, right here at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, and in media at Corus Entertainment. Her volunteer experience spans two decades in both leadership and frontline roles, focused on gender equity, reproductive justice, support for young people, and in end-of-life rights and care.

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: Pre-registration for Mosaic Institute’s Addressing Online Hate certificate course, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Rhiannon Wong at Women’s Shelters Canada. The Tech Safety Canada website says technology-facilitated gender-based violence “happens when someone uses technology to harm or control you.” It can take the form of “harassing text or social media messages, restricting access to technology, non-consensually sharing intimate images, using location-tracking technology, or threatening to do any of these.”

The scope of this abuse is big because the scope of gender-based violence in Canada is big. Statistics Canada says that sixty-seven per cent of those who report online intimidation to police are women and girls, and one in five women report experiencing online harassment. 

Over coming episodes, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Rhiannon Wong is project manager for Women’s Shelters Canada’s Technology Safety Canada project. She has researched and developed practical technology safety resources and training for anti-violence workers and women, girls, and gender-diverse people that address how technology can be used to create safety and misused by perpetrators to commit crimes of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, impersonation, and harassment. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: Tech Safety Canada, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Barbara Perry, Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University, and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University. A recent House of Commons report speaks to the rise of ideologically motivated violent extremism in Canada, based on xenophobic, gender-driven, anti-authority, and other personal grievance-driven ideas and ideologies. The report says that, in the age of social media, it can “elude the terminology and analytical frameworks long used by our law enforcement and national security agencies”, and these “longstanding national security threats have been joined by a new breed of violent extremists, lone actors, and leaderless movements whose alliances and espoused causes are constantly mutating.” 

In Canada, we’ve seen a 72% increase in hate crimes since 2019. It’s due to increased hate in digital spaces against women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and targeted ethnic and religious groups.  

Over coming episodes, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Here to draw lines between rising extremism and gendered digital abuse is Barbara Perry, Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University, and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism. Barbara holds a UNESCO Chair in Hate Studies. She has written extensively on social justice, hate crime, and right-wing extremism. Her books include Diversity, Crime and Justice in Canada, In the Name of Hate: Understanding Hate Crime, and Right-wing Extremism in Canada. Her work has been published in journals representing diverse disciplines: Theoretical Criminology, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Journal of History and Politics, and American Indian Quarterly. Dr. Perry continues to work in the area of hate crime, and has made substantial contributions to the limited scholarship on hate crime in Canada, including work on anti-Muslim violence, antisemitic hate crime, hate crime against 2SLGBTQI communities, the community impacts of hate crime, and right-wing extremism in Canada. She is regularly called upon by policy makers, practitioners, and local, national and international media as an expert on hate crime and right-wing extremism.

Relevant links: The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Yamikani Msosa, Executive Director at the Ottawa Coalition To End Violence Against Women. Misogynoir, a term coined by Dr. Moya Bailey, describes the distinctive form of anti-Black sexism faced by Black women. We’ve explored it in previous episodes. How does it show up in digital spaces? 

The data available paints a distressing picture. UK and US data shows that racialized women are 34% more likely to be mentioned in abusive or problematic tweets than white women, and Black women are especially targeted. They are 84% more likely than white women to be mentioned in these tweets. 

In Canada, 44% of women and gender-diverse people aged 16 to 30 have been personally targeted by hate speech online. Those most likely to be targeted include Black women and gender-diverse people. 

Over coming episodes, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Yamikani Msosa (they/them) helps us understand these experiences so often under-recognized in research. Yamikani is a Black neurodivergent nonbinary award-winning activist and cultural worker on the stolen, traditional, and ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation people. They are Executive Director at the Ottawa Coalition To End Violence Against Women. They co-chair the Advisory for Advancing Gender Equity for Black Women, Girls, and Gender Diverse Peoples in Canada Initiative and also founded SEEDS Yoga for Survivors. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: Trisha Hersey (@thenapministry), The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Alicia Mccarvell, creator and social media influencer (@aliciamccarvell). There’s a lot of research on how social media can impact users and expose them to harmful content. But those with a prominent online presence experience more digital harassment themselves - politicians, academics, journalists, and professional content creators and highly-followed influencers. Creators and influencers can be subject to repeated insults and derogatory and humiliating comments on a daily basis. Women influencers report more severe consequences, such as going into a state of shock and facing economic losses because of it. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

We’re joined by creator Alicia Mccarvell. Alicia uses humour to tackle conversations around body image, worth, and self-love. Sharing everything from workout routines and dance videos to updates on her relationship with her husband, Alicia hopes to relate, inspire laughter, and break down barriers. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence and suicide. 

Relevant Links: Alicia Mccarvell on Instagram and TikTok, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Hannah Sung (@hannsung, @hannah_tok), veteran of Canadian media and co-founder of Media Girlfriends. Communication in the western world has changed a lot: in 1800s, it was printing presses and telegraphs, then telephone, radio, movies, and television. Next came satellites, email and the internet, mobile phones, and smartphones, all the way to today’s social media, digital content, and remote learning and work.  

Gender inequalities have a way of persisting through these tidal shifts. Right from the start of the internet’s mass popularity, digital spaces presented gendered safety problems. From the 1990s to 2018, 76% of the complainants in cases of technology-facilitated violence reported to Canadian courts of appeal or the Supreme Court were female and 91% of the accused were male. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

We’re joined by Hannah Sung, co-founder of the award-winning Media Girlfriends, a production company led by journalists of colour who prioritize inclusion, diversity, and perspectives in media. Media Girlfriends partnered with the Canadian Women’s Foundation to release the Signal for Help podcast. Hannah is a 20+ year veteran of Canadian media and founder of At The End Of the Day newsletter and podcast, an Apple Podcasts Best of 2022. In the past, she worked at the Globe and Mail and CBC. In 2020, she was the Asper Fellow at the University of Western Ontario. Hannah began her career at MuchMusic, where she hosted MuchNews and The NewMusic. 

Relevant Links: Hannah Sung on Instagram and TikTok, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence,

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Dr. Nasreen Rajani. Gendered digital abuse can take lots of forms: threatening or damaging communication, cyberstalking, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, online dating abuse, hacking, doxing (publishing private information about someone online), flaming (posting insults or personal attacks), impersonation, gendered and sexualized disinformation, and more. 

Studies show that those who experience more unwanted behaviour online include young women, Black, Indigenous, and racialized women, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Still, research is thin when it comes to exploring the nuances of gendered digital abuse in their lives. For instance, very little focusses on the experiences and perspectives of racialized women in Canada. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Dr. Nasreen Rajani has been involved in ending gender-based violence for about seven years through her research and non-profit advocacy work. Her dissertation examined how racialized and Indigenous activists across Canada use digital tools in their work to end gender-based violence. She has been a volunteer and board member with the Women’s Initiatives for Safer Environments (WISE Ottawa) from 2016 to 2021 and is currently an advisor with the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) on their technology-facilitated gender-based violence project. Nasreen is also a member of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women’s (OCTEVAW) Black and Racialized Persons Caucus, a strategic advisory board that supports the meaningful implementation of equity, anti-racist, decolonial, and intersectional lenses on OCTEVAW’s work. 

Relevant Links: “I Bet You Don’t Get What We Get”: An Intersectional Analysis of Technology-Facilitated Violence Experienced by Racialized Women Anti-Violence Online Activists in Canada (Canadian Journal of Law and Technology, 2022), Unacceptable: Responding to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Fallon Farinacci, social media influencer (@fallonfarinacci). There are good resources designed to help you better respond to and take care of yourself in situations of digital hate and harassment. Right to Be says there’s “no right or perfect response to harassment.” Their online harassment survival guide says it’s ok to feel vulnerable and turn to your support network when you need it. They talk about how important it is to feel connected in your offline life. 

Research shows how people who harass and hate don’t always do it from a place of power. They often do it from a place of feeling powerless. It’s no excuse for hurting others.  

But what keeps us grounded? Caring community. If we all had more access to caring community – connections that uphold human rights and dignity and positively challenge us to do the same – experiences of hate, harassment, and abuse would not be so commonplace.    

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Fallon Farinacci is Red River Métis and a child survivor, advocate, and speaker for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Fallon testified in the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, sharing her story of loss and trauma. Later, Fallon joined The National Family Advisory Circle, where she worked closely with other affected family members and the Commissioners for the National Inquiry. Fallon continues to share her family’s story and brings awareness to ongoing genocide Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people face in hopes of bringing change across Turtle Island. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence and suicide. 

Relevant Links: Fallon Farinacci on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Stephanie Jonsson at Ontario Digital Literacy and Access Network (ODLAN). Organizations working on gender justice, feminist, and 2SLGBTQIA+ issues are subject to online attacks intended to delegitimize and devalue their efforts. Employees who deal with these attacks have little protection. Their mental health is impacted, and their time and resources are wasted. They’re likely to have to leave digital spaces rather than stay and contend with the onslaught.

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

We’re joined by Stephanie Jonsson, co-founder of ODLAN. She’s a Ph.D. Candidate in Gender, Feminist, and Women's Studies at York University. ODLAN raises awareness and trains organizations on the significance of digital inclusion. It acknowledges that colonization and white supremacy created the social conditions that sustain inequality and marginalize queerness - even in digital spaces. The digital divide is part of this ongoing colonization, and digital access and safety for all cannot be achieved until Indigenous communities have full access to digital spaces. ODLAN stands firm in its conviction that digital safety and accessibility remain fundamental to the broader project of decolonization. ODLAN’s mission is to remove digital literacy and access barriers and it provides organizations with tools, knowledge, and training to develop digital inclusion strategies. Stephanie is dedicated to building projects that build the strength and resilience of Rainbow communities. 

Relevant Links: ODLAN’s website, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.