Don’t Let it Stand

In 2013, the Internet Democracy Project published a ground-breaking research study titled ‘Don’t Let It Stand! An Exploratory Study of Women and Verbal Abuse Online in India’. We looked in-depth at 17 Indian women’s experiences of online abuse, where and why the abuse occurred, how women dealt with it, and when – if at all – the law was helpful. At a time when there weren't many people talking about this issue anywhere in the world, we were the first to explore it in India, and the study was very well received. This website builds and expands on what the research first found - you'll see quotes from women who participated in the research pop up all over this site.

As a compliment to the qualitative study, we also published 'Keeping Women Safe? Gender, Online Harassment and Indian Law' at the time. This study examined how and to what extent the law in India can help those who face verbal abuse online in the country, and what amendments could be made to the law to improve support for women in their fight against online abuse. You can find some of that information in the section on reporting abuse to the police.