Neither porn, nor revenge: digital violence, says the inspirer of the Olimpia Law in Mexico

During his youth, his then partner released a private video with sexual content that quickly went viral in Mexico. This episode had social and emotional repercussions on Olimpia, who fell into depression.

From this episode, the organization Mujeres contra la violencia de género was formed in Puebla. She later moved to Mexico City to found, along with other women, the National Front for Sororityin order to prevent virtual violence and accompany women who suffer from it.

In March 2014, when he was 19 years old, he introduced a bill in the Congress of Pueblto. After insisting, the young woman managed to have digital violence recognized and punished up to six years in prison for those who share intimate materials without consent. As a result, the 31 states of the Mexican republic They recognize this as a crime.

Olympia Law

The Olimpia Law is composed of a set of legislative reforms, in different states of Mexicoaimed at recognizing digital violence and punishing crimes that violate the sexual privacy of people through digital media, also known as cyberviolence or digital violence.

According to the Law, the following are conducts that violate sexual intimacy:

• Videotaping, audiotaping, photographing, or making real or simulated videos, of intimate sexual content, of a person without their consent or by deceit
• Exposing, distributing, disseminating, exhibiting, reproducing, transmitting, marketing, offering, exchanging and sharing images, audio or videos of intimate sexual content of a person, knowing that it does not exist consentthrough printed materials, email, telephone messages, social networks or any technological means

Digital violence is understood to be those actions in which, by their nature, they threaten the integrity, dignity and private life of women and men. causing psychological, economic or sexual harmboth in the private and public sphere, in addition to non-pecuniary damage, both to said persons and their families.

For Olimpia, the Law is not just a set of legislative reforms, it is a political movement that has been integrated for 10 years by various colleagues who came together to confront, through love, resilience and sisterhood, harassment and digital violence that In most cases, women live in Mexico and the world.

“We have been coming together for a decade to understand our own contexts and to be able to make strategies so that other women do not experience the sexual and virtual violence that we experience. There we founded Defensoras Digitales and the Social Front for Sorority. Today, after the approval of the Olimpia Law, in Mexico we continue to be vigilant,” Olimpia told UN News.

“When I say that it has worked, I say it because 10 years ago the way in which this violence was known was revenge porn, it was a sexist way of naming this violence, reducing it completely to revictimization; we opposed that narrative: neither porn, nor revenge: digital violence.”

Olimpia assures that, although the law with her name contributes significantly to Mexican legislation in favor of women’s rights, it is not the only thing that is needed to grant the justice that this segment of the population requires.

“When I say that the Olympia Law is not a panacea, it is because I do not know if it is enough to give the justice that we all deserve, I do not know if it is enough to really generate the reparation for the damage that a victim requires. But don’t tell us that fighting is uselessand that they do not tell us that articulating with each other is useless.”

After 10 years of work and activism, in addition to the Olimpia Law, the activist and her colleagues have created a Report on digital violence in Mexico, which consists of three main axes:

• attention to victims
• development of research, theories, study and reflections
• call to action

Example for other countries

The Olimpia Law not only remained in the Mexican legislation, but also is subject to be replicated in Latin America and the United States. Currently, it is under discussion in the Congresses of Argentina, Honduras, Ecuador and Los Angeles, California. And it is expected that the process will begin soon in Washington DC

“In Honduras, Ecuador and Argentina the reform has already been presented in the National Congress, the process is in the creation of the opinion and the vote of the plenary session; the most advanced has been Argentina, we hope that this same period that began on March 1, will be a watershed for it to be part of the agenda. And I will be in Washington where I will give a presentation with different legislators to present the Law in Mexico,” said Olimpia.

Without minimizing the Mexican text, Olimpia highlights the effort she has made together with her colleagues from the National Front for Sorority: “Why take at least the effort that has been made without being legislators, without having funding from anything? We have done it with just the strongest weapon that we have had, that is the love between us.”

Olimpia reflects on the fact why in Europe or in the United States, it is not recognized that in Mexico there is a great advance on the issue of gender violence in legislation.

“To say: ‘In Mexico we carried out a reform like in Italy, in Mexico we carried out a reform like in Europe’; but Neither in Europe nor in the United States have they recognized that there is already a great advance in Mexico on this issue, such as the Olympia Law. So, the space that you give us and that the UN gives us seems very important, to understand that not everything is decided there. And that, furthermore, living in South and Central American countries is not the same as living in countries with a high Gross Domestic Product and with high market powers”, he explains.

“In addition, our context is different as it is the number one country in sex tourism in pedophilia, having high rates of femicide. There is a lack of participation of Spanish-speaking voices, of the Latino voices, of the recognition that it is a work that we have already done in Mexico. It seems to me that it is necessary to talk about this reflection, about how it is interpreted from the inside ”, he assures.

This 2023 International Women’s Day is dedicated to the theme: For an inclusive digital world: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

The algorithm is patriarchal

On March 8, 2023, UN Women and the United Nations decided to dedicate the International Women’s Day under the motto For an inclusive digital world: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

This is because, from the dawn of computing to the current era of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, women have made invaluable contributions to the digital world, without ever being welcomed or valued. These are achievements against all odds.

In accordance with UN WomenToday, the persistence of the gender gap in digital access prevents women from fully enjoying the potential of technology.

Their professional and academic underrepresentation in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics remains a major obstacle to their participation in the governance and design of technology. And the threat of digital violence combined with the lack of legal protection, all too often forces us to abandon the digital spaces we occupy.

For all this, Olimpia believes that it is time to speak to companies, to those men who today have control over algorithms, about the creation of platforms and applications where the woman’s body continues to be reified.

“Now the pending is to speak to the companies, to the private initiative, talk to the gentlemen who have in their hands the domain of the algorithms, who have in their hands the domain of the internet, the mastery of the complete commodification of our bodies through technologies. It is not the intention to demonize digital spaces, but rather to find more harmonious digital spaces for women to inhabit”, denounces Olimpia.

“If I had the opportunity to speak to Mark Zukenberg, and to all those people who have power, I would first tell them that the algorithm is patriarchal, it is made from a masculine vision, from a condition for women to inhabit the internet since the objectification of our bodies, from the other gaze minimized to just being a sideboard. We want to be involved in a position where we are not second-class citizens”.

For Olimpia, making the problem visible is precisely starting from what you want to do. “Today it is easier to take down a stalker’s clothesline than to take down an online sexual exploitation market.”

Within the framework of 8M, Olimpia and her companions are participating in the 67th session of the Commission on the Legal and Social Status of Women (CSW67) of the United Nations, to which they were invited to speak about the Olympia Law, their experiences in legislation and the challenges they have encountered regarding the intention of justice and tripartite responsibility: “Not only of the State and of society, but also of companies.

“There is a lot to reflect on, but I conclude that it is not without us, we are not a threat, that we do not want to destroy the internet, that it is not a puritanical discourse that demonizes the digital space. The thing is we want to be in the decision making, we want to make the algorithm, we also want to make the spaces. It is fair to us that a woman is the first to develop a mathematical algorithm and that today she is a group of men who decide the development of new global technologies and social digital networks.”

Report produced by Primavera Díaz.