Women are less likely to have access to the internet in comparison with men. This phenomena is known as the gender digital divide. As the graphic below illustrates, overall, there is a 26% difference worldwide in female access to the internet, with 327 million fewer women having access when compared to men. This is intrinsically tied to online violence against women in that women are less likely to have the training and digital awareness to enter the digital space with full knowledge about their rights, reporting mechanisms, and privacy standards.

According to the National Crime Victimization and Perception Survey, in 2019 for every sexual crime committed against men in Mexico, 11 are committed against women. On the other hand, according to the National Survey on Household Relationship Dynamics, 22% of Mexican women have been discriminated at the work sphere throughout their lives.

Grooming is a term in psychology to describe a set of manipulative techniques used by sexual predators to foster a sense of ‘trust’ with a targeted person before inflicting violence. For many victims, abuse happens after trust has been established in a relationship.