The Supporting a Safer Internet survey on online harms in 18 countries was undertaken by the Centre for International Governance Innovation in partnership with the International Development Research Centre and was carried out by Ipsos. This paper considers the survey’s India findings. Some of the findings may appear somewhat surprising. For example, the survey found that women in India do not, in fact, report experiencing online violence significantly more often than men. Moreover, while gender and sexual minorities do appear to be targeted much more frequently, even persons belonging to these groups, the survey finds, tend to not acknowledge this vulnerability. This paper argues that the continued power and dominance of a deeply patriarchal culture of social control and discipline in India, and the acute awareness of that power among women and gender and sexual minorities, explains these and other findings. The paper examines experiences, perceptions and impacts of different forms of violence for women, men and gender and sexual minorities. This analysis demonstrates that deeply conservative socio-cultural norms continue to shape not only online violence and its impact in India, but also the extent to and the ways in which different groups can or will speak up about or respond to it. The paper concludes with key recommendations on how to move forward.
