Preventing Digital Violence: An event to raise awareness among young people about the dangers of the web

Cyber ​​bullying, revenge porn, body shaming are also forms of gender violence online which can have devastating consequences for the victims, especially if they affect boys and girls whose personalities are still developing, but also for the perpetrators of the violence. It is therefore essential to prevent these phenomena., in a historical moment in which the excessive and unconscious use of social media is increasingly widespread, knowledge and information become very important tools to protect our young people.

Based on these beliefs, The Equal Opportunities Committee established at the Council of the Bar Association of Verona, has proposed dedicating to high school students a moment of study on the dangers that lurk on the web, with particular attention to those related to the sexual sphere. A decision made in the certainty that only through a widespread diffusion of the culture of knowledge you can generate full awareness of the potential risks of the network.

The initiative was presented for the first time, also in the presence of Deputy Mayor Bissoli, at the Educandato agli Angeli on the occasion of the International Day against Violence against Women, attracting considerable interest in the topics discussed in the young people who attended. Hence the decision to propose the same topic again in collaboration with the Municipality of Verona, extending it to more schools in our area. and inviting, also for this occasion, excellent speakers with specialist and transversal skills.

The next March 31st will be held, Therefore, at the Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona the event entitled “Digital sexual crime: knowledge as a tool for prevention and protection”, organized with the collaboration and participation of the Municipality of Verona, the Equal Opportunities Committee of the Verona Bar Association and the patronage of the Verona Bar Association, for which the Deputy Mayor, Barbara Bissoli, the President of the Council of the Bar Association, Mauro Regis, and the President of the CPO of the Association, Camilla Tantini, will speak respectively.

“An initiative in line with the Administration's mandate program to combat gender violence – explained the Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Gender Equality Barbara Bissoli-. There is a need to create awareness among the younger generations by promoting prevention and protection in a very delicate area, that of relationships between men and women in the context of social media. The theme that we want to address, applied to the use of social media and digital tools, is that of a new grammar of relationships between men and women characterized by respect. An area, that of affection and relationships between men and women, in serious difficulty".

"Young people are our future and we all have the responsibility to understand how we can help them in this moment in which social media has completely changed the vision of the world - explained the President of the Equal Opportunities Committee of the Verona Bar Association, Avv. Camilla Tantini-. We have gone from being simple consumers of digital content to becoming all producers and distributors of it., with the big problem for kids being the distortion of reality. Because these models of perfection, of beauty, of greatness that they see within social media are not the real models in which we live, being the fruit of the disconnection between reality and appearance. The meeting on Monday will address the most current issues of the web and the related risks, it will not be a frontal lesson as the kids will be actively involved".

The event will involve almost 700 students who attend the three-year period of the High Schools of Verona. The aim of the initiative is to inform students about the issue of the illicit dissemination of sexually explicit images or videos, or revenge porn (articles 600 ter, 600 quater and 612 ter of the Criminal Code), sensitizing them to a responsible use of technological means that too often unknowingly expose them to serious risks and consequences, including criminal ones. In an era in which the excessive and unconscious use of social media is increasingly widespread, in a historical moment in which we are witnessing easy accessibility to various social media platforms, messaging applications and virtual spaces, digital education and information in a preventive/protective key become an extremely current topic.

Judge Dr. Alessia Silvia, magistrate at the Criminal Court of Verona, Dr. Gianpaolo Trevisi, Director of the Police School of Peschiera del Garda, Prof. Giumelli Riccardo, sociologist of cultural processes, contract professor of Theories and Techniques of Communication at the University of Verona and Dr. Antonella Elena Rossi, clinical psychologist, criminologist and educational psychologist, will discuss all this with our students from Verona. The contributions offered will be multidisciplinary and will try to make boys and girls understand how knowledge of some dynamics is essential to be able to protect themselves and prevent the risk of committing crimes related to the digital world.