Are You Being Cyberbullied?

If you’ve grown up as a woman in Sri Lanka, chances are you’ve dealt with some form of cyber bullying. Stolen photos, fake social media accounts, harassing messages, even the ever-cringey d!ck pic. The numbers back this up - approximately 90% of Sri Lankan students are victims of cyberbullying*. So, what preventive measures can you take when online?

- Shihaam Hassanali

In a nutshell, cyberbullying involves the use of electronic communication to intimidate or threaten. Commonly, individuals are cyberbullied on social media (think: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat), SMS, instant messages and email. It’s also considered a component of violence against women. With the increase in social media platforms and digital forums, any content shared by anyone (comments, photos, posts) can often be viewed by strangers as well as friends or family, leaving many women subject to attack.

Seshani Cooray, 20, and Amaya Suriyapperuma, 21, were two such young women who came under attack after the ASUS Lanka Comic Con 2017. They both cosplayed Wonder Woman and upon posting a picture online received massive backlash for their outfits. They were pictured in several memes that circulated throughout local Facebook pages designed solely to mock and insult the girls. The whole situation left both of them saddened and shaken. Seshani shared, “I was really distressed by how people objectified our bodies and body shamed us. They compared our bodies to each other which only served to make us feel even more vulnerable.”

How Do You Deal?