In front of a screen, you often feel alone, and when insults, threats or blackmail begin, this loneliness becomes a prison. You think that keeping silent protects you from judgement, but in reality that is exactly what the abuser is waiting for. In digital violence, the most effective weapon is not the message sent, it is the secret you keep. Asking for help is not an admission of weakness, it is a first line of defence.
This capsule details why talking changes everything: talking to break the isolation, because sharing what you are going through helps you realise that you are not guilty but a victim, and shame changes sides as soon as the secret is shared; reporting to block the way, because every report creates a digital trail against the abuser; and seeking technical and legal support, because in Benin associations and competent authorities can turn screenshots into legal shields.
Asking for help is an act of courage, which protects your future and helps make the digital world safer for all other women. You have the right to use the internet without fear, you have the right to be protected, you have the right to be heard. Speak up, report, protect yourself.
This is an initiative of Women EdTech, supported by CARE Benin/Togo and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), as part of the Digital Safe Space sub-project, phase 2 of the Féministes en Action programme (FeA2).
