Cyberbullying in Mexico doesn't discriminate gender

In 2015, MOCIBA reported that 24.5% of Mexicans aged 12 or more

have been victims of cyberbullying – most of the victims are men

Illustrations by Dante de la Vega (left) and Rosario Lucas (right)/EL

UNIVERSAL
26/02/2018

11:00
Montserrat Peralta
Mexico City
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In 2015, the Cyberbullying Module (MOCIBA) – the only of its
kind in Mexico – reported that 24.5% of Mexicans aged 12 or more
have been victims of cyberbullying, a form of violence and
harassment that takes place over digital devices.
According to the data of this organization, 52.1% of victims are
men, followed closely by women, with 47.9%. The most vulnerable
are those between the ages 20 to 29, accounting for 34.8% of the
cases, followed by those aged 12 to 19.
The MOCIBA report states that 89% of attackers are strangers;
9.3% acquaintances; 6.6% friends; 3% classmates
or colleagues from work; 2% are former or current partners; 0.9%
relatives.

(Illustration by Dante de la Vega /EL UNIVERSAL)

Mexican society believes men have to be "strong and brave", reason
why it wasn't until recently that they were also seen as victims or
vulnerable to any kind of violence, including cyberbullying, claims
during an interview with EL UNIVERSAL, René López Pérez, in
charge of the Research Subprogram of the civil society association
Gender and Development (GENDES), whose main objective is to
encourage critical and positive analysis on masculinity, and foster a
social development based on egalitarian relationships.

Felipe, a young college student, went to a work interview where he

met Iker, a member of the Human Resources team of the company
listing the vacancy Felipe had applied for. Iker began to call him and
send him messages through WhatsApp, saying he needed this and
that document – but always asked to see him outside of the office –
at a restaurant – because it was “urgent.”
Iker then began to send Felipe friendship request to Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram, and two weeks later he told him there
were some problems with his job application, but that he liked
Felipe very much and could help him get hired for another vacancy
with better wages. Felipe told him he wasn't interested in the offer
and left. Yet Iker didn't stop there. He kept calling and messaging
Felipe. “I had over 40 missed calls a day,” he remembers.
Felipe erased Iker from his social networks and blocked him but Iker
showed up at Felipe's address – which he got from Felipe's CV – and
began putting up photos of Felipe with insulting messages at his
home and university. He even confronted Felipe's girlfriend and told
her they had been having an affair.

Felipe says that when he filed a harassment complaint against Iker,

the Public Prosecutor's Office sided with his attacker. For the
officer, “I was discriminating [Iker] for his sexual preference. I was
guilty, I provoked him.”

For René López, men usually do not file complaints because they
believe they will be perceived as “weak”, as incapable of “defending
themselves”, that they aren't “man enough” to deal with the
situation. A perspective also shared, at times, by the authorities.
Dealing with cyberbullying
Some of the measures both men and women take to deal with
cyberbullying, according to the study, are the following:
-Ignore the situation, in case of spam, viruses, or phone calls.
-Block the person when they have received messages or when
harmful information has been posted about them.
López, who has a graduate degree in Gestalt Psychotherapy and has
studies on public policies and discrimination, says cyberbullying is
the reflection of our current environment: violence and lack of
empathy and unity.

He says that newer technologies are addressed to the younger

generations yet by not being exclusively used by them “sometimes
adults don't understand the ways violence generates there and, thus,
aren't prepared to handle it.”

Stigmatization
Psychologist Carlos Zavala says that violence against women has
been “normalized,” as it is seen more frequently as something
“natural”. Yet violence toward men has more stigmas and
prejudices because it's seen as something “anti-natural” and for this
reason, men prefer to remain silent if they suffer from some form
of violence because they don't want to be seen as victims and objects
of ridicule.
The psychologist claims that because men find it harder to accept
they have a problem and ask for help, the statistics, in this matter
and for this group, aren't a faithful reflection of the real number of
cases out there.