Ada, 14, shy and a K-pop fan, is seen as a baby by her school friends.
Also, when the most popular boy matches with her on social networks and asks her for a
nude
(a naked selfie) after numerous exchanges, she complies.
Unsuspecting.
For her, as for many young people, networks are a space of freedom, far from the adult world.
She doesn't see the threat coming until a man asks her for money to remove her photos posted on a child pornography site.
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Also readSocial networks: “The real challenge is to educate people so that abuses are as minor as possible”
A widespread phenomenon
From the episodes directed by Lucie Borleteau in the
Prime Video series
Nudes , this story is fictional.
But it echoes an increasingly common practice and its abuses.
“I was hit hard by a reality that I had ignored or that the mother that I am did not want to see,” says the director.
Exchanging
nudes
was a marginal act for me.
I was wrong."
According to a Franco-Belgian survey, 74.5% of 13-25 year olds have already sent at least one intimate photo via an app.
And some see their photos shared without their consent by a usurper who presented himself under an attractive identity or an upset fiancé after a breakup.
“A romantic separation is experienced as an intimate betrayal, which can lead to aggressive or self-aggressive action,” explains Michaël Stora, psychoanalyst and co-founder of the Observatory of Digital Worlds in the Human Sciences.
The first phases of love loss cause what we call a disorganization of the ego, which can be expressed very violently.”
Nude
or
revenge porn (distribution of pornographic content where an
ex
appears) are two common expressions in the age of networks.
And women are the first victims: according to a 2015 UN report, 73% say they have experienced online violence.
“It’s the extension of patriarchy,” says Lucie Borleteau.
We are categorized in the digital world as in real life.
Women must be wise, irreproachable, virtuous, and have a spotless reputation.
A
nude,
and that’s the thing.”
For men, exposing one's virility is, on the contrary, transgressive, sexy, daring.
Almost a feat of arms to claim for some.
But not for everyone.
Gauthier, an 18-year-old Breton from a good family, committed suicide in 2012 after a young girl he met on the instant messaging site Chatroulette tricked him.
After putting him at ease, she became his friend on Facebook and threatened to share their naughty videos if he didn't pay her money.
“He preferred to kill himself rather than take responsibility for broadcasting the images,” remembers Michaël Stora.
It is less the violation of privacy than the spring of shame that is at stake. A photo or a video is not only a concentrate of affect, but also a supposed vector of truth in our society.
The famous “image proof” that makes and breaks reputations.”
A disinhibiting anonymity
The impact on the victim is all the more terrible as a single repost has the effect of wildfire.
The pack ignites, the machine goes into overdrive.
“On the networks, there is a phenomenon of imitation and contagion.
It’s the opportunity that makes the thief, adds Patrick Amey, sociologist and lecturer at Medialab at the University of Geneva.
For some, harassing in a group means finding ideological connections, consolidating social capital, or even positioning oneself as an opinion leader.”
And this without taking any risks, anonymity being guaranteed.
“In the real face-to-face encounter of everyday civility, embarrassment or shame restrains us.
Conversely, the digital context favors excess, radicalism and a letting go claimed by all,” continues the sociologist, before specifying: “It is not a question of mythologizing a time when the Internet did not exist.
There was already violence at work, within communities or at school, but new digital practices invite us to respond immediately, without thinking, and allow us to hide under a pseudonym.
An inhibiting brake has been lifted.”
Psychoanalyst Michaël Stora adds: “On the Internet, we benefit from being sheltered from the gaze of certain authorities who, all day long, force us to endure the rules: school, work, family.
The
hater
(
the one who spreads hatred on the networks, Editor's note
) acts out of frustration, anger, impulse... This is the reason why anyone can have this profile.
We all know these feelings.
However, with the
hater,
they are pushed to the extreme.”
At the heart of the Claude Pocobene series
Digital pain reliever
In the documentary
Hail Slut
: Misogyny in the Digital Age
, screenwriter and actress Marion Séclin (@marionseclin) says she was “the French champion of cyberharassment.”
Title which she would have done without.
From 2016, her entertainment content on feminism, broadcast on social networks, placed her at the heart of the turmoil: calls for rape, insults of all kinds, diverted sexual images, death threats surged.
At 40,000 messages, she stops counting.
“None of the star YouTubers of the time supported me: some attackers were part of their community that they did not want to see diminish.
It was also this cowardice that was difficult to accept.”
Marion is no exception.
Every woman receiving attention on the Internet is a potential target for haters
.
A story as old as time, according to Michaël Stora, also author of
(a)social Networks
!
(Ed. Larousse).
“Castration anxiety as defined by Freud still exists.
Men who harass want to preserve their “virile integrity”, maintain their power or, on the contrary, exercise it when they are unable to do so in the real world.”
All means are good to humiliate and harm, including the theft of nude photos and pornographic or degrading
fakes
.
Men who harass want to preserve their “virile integrity”, maintain their power or, on the contrary, exercise it when they are unable to do so in the real world.
Michaël Stora, psychoanalyst
“It is once again the bodies of women that are being put at stake in an attempt to enslave them and reduce them to silence,” raises Léa Clermont-Dion, co-director of the documentary
I salute you slut
and herself regularly chosen as a digital painkiller.
“With the recent movements to free speech, we could believe that society was progressing.
But these methods are rather proof of a regression.
They also reflect a persistent trivialization of violence against women.
“It’s just a tweet”, “No one died”, “This is the lot of public life” are all phrases that victims hear despite their very real trauma.
Whether it takes the form of photos or comments that are difficult to trace or eradicate once disseminated, this digital violence nevertheless has very serious consequences on the health, family, educational, professional development, or the intimate life of the victims.
“The ability to withstand the attack and to react is very different depending on the individual,” explains Michaël Stora.
The more fragile the self-confidence, during adolescence for example, the greater the impact.”
From indifference to self-deprecation, from low mood to deep depression, from eating disorders to suicide attempts, the consequences of cyberbullying vary.
The unrest is increasing with the fear that digital violence will become a path to real violence for disturbed minds who do not hesitate to share the address of their target on the Web.
In
I salute you bitch,
Marion Séclin confides that she was as traumatized by the online attacks as by the rape and school harassment that she suffered as a teenager, in particular because no one wanted to hear her suffering.
“We must not minimize the psychological impact of these attacks, proportional to the passionate side of virtual relationships,” analyzes Michaël Stora.
“Like what a patient experiences with his analyst, virtual links are the breeding ground for powerful transferential psychic adventures.
Testimonies of love from a community are reassuring, but when violence is expressed, the explosion can be just as powerful.
And when the person is targeted for who they are more than for what they defend, when the issue is more narcissistic than ideological, the trauma is even more violent.”
And the specialist cites the example of Léna Situations, a star influencer who spoke publicly about her depression after having suffered hate campaigns about her loves, her hair, her weight... In a study carried out in Switzerland as part of her research sociological studies, Patrick Amey highlighted an astonishing reality: 25% of young people questioned said they considered digital hateful exchanges towards a group or a person as a distraction.
“The problem is the dichotomy between the lightness that they associate with this entertainment space and the seriousness of the threats made or the revenge organized.”
Sacha Lauras (Ada), in Claude Pocobene
Free the floor
The best strategy for victims to escape?
Talk to a psychologist, a friend, a relative, a teacher, as long as you overcome the feeling of shame which, even today, often leads to tragedy.
In the
Nudes series,
Lucie Borleteau's heroine overcomes it by sharing her story with her friends.
“I wanted to encourage them to speak up, because telling them not to use the networks would be stupid.
This can't work.
There are already stories circulating among them like urban legends, but the warnings must be repeated.
Tell them in particular to never do
nudes
regardless of who they are talking to and remind them that they are all in the same boat.”
According to the Ministry of National Education, one in five middle school students is a victim of cyberviolence.
Filing a complaint is now possible: posting intimate images of another person online without their consent is punishable by two years in prison and a fine of €60,000.
The anonymity of social networks and the multiplicity of potential culprits, however, complicate the investigation.
The platforms have put in place prevention or protection measures (reporting, blocking, private account, etc.), but refuse to take responsibility in these matters.
Moreover, nothing forces them to do so.
If, in Germany, a law obliges them to remove hate messages in less than twenty-four hours, France has refused to do so, judging that zealous moderation could infringe on freedom of expression.
Enough to arrange in content moderation.
“The platforms encouraged users to express themselves freely.
This is how they built their economic model, she says in
Hail Bitch.
They don’t moderate offensive and problematic content, because the more transgressive it is, the more engagement and revenue there is.”
In this context of inaction, victims invariably receive the same advice: “Leave the networks.”
A double punishment, according to Michaël Stora.
“For a teenager, cutting herself off from the networks means cutting herself off from
haters
but also from friends who support her.
This can reinforce the feeling of loneliness and distress, and further anchor him in his position of victim.
However, the whole challenge is to get it out of there.”
Supervision and prevention are therefore necessary in the family unit.
Why not also introduce digital practice courses, as suggested by Léa Clermont-Dion, documentarian and postdoctoral researcher at Concordia University on issues of hatred.
“What will happen to young people exposed without moderation to these hateful, misogynistic, racist and homophobic messages?
We must teach new generations to discern good from evil and truth from falsehood in this lot of rubbish, not to reveal their privacy online, to develop a critical mind and to simply understand that there is a being a human behind the screen.
Not an avatar devoid of feelings.”
Nudes
, by Sylvie Verheyde, Lucie Borleteau and Andréa Bescond, on Prime Video from February 1.
Hail Bitch: Misogyny in the Digital Age
, by Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist, on AppleTV+.