Reconceptualising the Digital Gender Gap, Accommodating New Forms of Virtual Gender‐Based Violence

From a critical feminist perspective, the digital gender gap is linked to new forms of virtual gender-based violence that particularly affect girls and young women. These forms of violence are related to the exploitation or misuse of the digital divide. To illustrate this phenomenon, we review different cases in which the well-being of children and adolescents is endangered when technology becomes a tool for promoting self-harm and suicide among minors through exposure to harmful content, grooming, sexting and/or sextortion; the digital sexual exploitation of underage girls through deepfakes or intimate images generated with AI; the consumption of violent and hateful content in mass chats; and the incitement to sexist violence through video games. Given the reproduction and perpetuation of sexist violence in the digital world, to guarantee safe, inclusive and equitable digital environments, various measures are essential, including European policies or plans aimed at guaranteeing digital security and rights, and those related to critical digital literacy with a gender perspective in formal education (school and university) and informal education (parents, carers and guardians). Finally, we urge that the focus be placed on personal digital resilience, since thinking of a completely secure digital world is a naive and unattainable utopia.