SheThePeople.TV's Women's Writer's Fest witnessed Shaili Chopra, Kiran Manral, Karnika Kohli and Anja Kovacs discussing "Women Online: Speaking it loud".
Anja Kovacs explained how identifying what is online abuse is a challenge she faces.
She also went on to elaborate on how women stay away from posting stuff online because of their apprehensions and not real experiences.
People need to know that stories are happening. And it might not be a simple process about putting out a story - but it is important. #Audience about should we talk about our #MeToo stories#WomenWritersFest
— SheThePeople (@SheThePeopleTV) March 10, 2018
"The challenge is also to figure out how to let women speak what they want to," - Anja Kovacs
Difference between how men and women get trolled
Karnika pointed out that there is a lot of difference between how men and women are targeted online. Referring to a personal experience, she highlighted that men are attacked for their opinions while the women are attacked for their sexuality.
Karnika said that a lot of people validate what they say by saying that they are just adding to the conversation, but where to draw the line?
SheThePeople.TV's founder Shaili Chopra feels that the problem of online abuse is becoming more accentuated with time.
Blocking trolls
"Blocking makes you lazy. It gives you instant gratification. The door gets closed, but momentarily," says Shaili.
One person's troll is another person's fact checker. @shailichopra on replying to online trolls. @pinthecreep #WomenWritersFest
— SheThePeople (@SheThePeopleTV) March 10, 2018
Anja says that we need more structural solutions to solve this problem.
On blocking author Kiran Manral says,"Blocking is self-preservation, it is better to have no engagement with them (trolls)."
Trolling is another form of harassment where one can abuse and threaten to the extent of mental depression, Risha Syed, UN legal consultant had said at a workshop on online safety.
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