Background

Sexual violence affects millions of people worldwide and represents a serious global public health problem. In particular, one in three women, which equates to approximately 736 million, is subjected to sexual violence in their lifetime.1 Whereas global data on male victims are limited, one in four men in the USA has experienced some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.2 According to the WHO, sexual violence is any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting.3 Common examples of sexual violence include rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual harassment.3 The rapid proliferation of technology, such as the internet and mobile devices, has led to increased opportunities for and prevalence of online sexual violence worldwide.4 5

Digital sexual violence is a broad and complex phenomenon that encompasses various types of interpersonal behaviours perpetrated through digital means.6 These actions are considered unwanted, intrusive and/or harmful to the victim.6 Terminology in this field varies. For instance, the Into the Light report by the Childlight—Global Child Safety Institute defines online child sexual exploitation and abuse as ‘all types of sexually abusive and exploitative behaviours that occur either online or through the use of information and communication technologies’.7 Henry and Powell refer to ‘technology-facilitated sexual violence’ (TFSV) in a literature review, encompassing a range of behaviours where digital technologies facilitated both virtual and face-to-face sexual harms, such as (1) online sexual harassment, (2) gender-based and sexuality-based harassment, (3) cyberstalking, (4) image-based sexual exploitation and (5) the use of a carriage service to coerce a victim into an unwanted sexual act.8 An empirical study in Spain also adopted the term ‘TFSV’ to describe various forms of digital violence, measuring (1) gender harassment, (2) gender-role harassment, (3) sexual orientation harassment, (4) digital sexual harassment, (5) sextortion and (6) non-consensual pornography.9 A recent scoping review expanded the term to ‘technology-facilitated sexual violence and abuse’ (TFSVA), adding ‘abuse’ to encompass a broader range of issues.10 This review identified seven themes related to TFSVA, including (1) online/digital sexual harassment, (2) image-based sexual abuse, (3) gender-based hate speech, trolling and/or memes harassment, (4) impersonation, doxing and defamation, (5) physical and/or rape threats, (6) coercive control and (7) monitoring through digital technologies.10

The conceptualisation and operational definition of digital sexual violence vary and continue to evolve with new technologies. For instance, deepfake image-based sexual violence has emerged with the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence technology.11 Given the ever-evolving nature of this concept, achieving a uniform and agreed-upon definition is challenging. In this paper, the term ‘TFSVA’ is used to describe all potential sexual behaviours perpetrated through the internet or any digital technology. The term is not limited to abusive acts that occur online but also includes physical sexual abuse facilitated by online means. This inclusion is supported by findings from a qualitative study among gay men using dating apps in Hong Kong, which documented experiences of physical forms of sexual violence, such as stealthing, with an abuser they met via the app.12

TFSVA has drawn considerable attention in recent years as there is an increasing number of TFSVA victimisation and perpetration cases with the advancement of technology.8 In terms of victimisation, a meta-analysis and systematic review revealed that 8.8% of people have had their sexually explicit images or sexually explicit messages (sexts) shared without their consent, 7.2% have been threatened with sexting and 17.6% have had sexually explicit images taken without permission.13 In terms of perpetration, a recent study reported that over 1 in 10 individuals engaged in TFSVA perpetration behaviours.14

Existing studies were mainly investigating TFSVA prevalence and behaviours among youth and adolescents.15 16 Youth and adolescents are more vulnerable to TFSVA as they may lack digital literacy skills to navigate the online space safely.17 Moreover, they may be more susceptible to become perpetrators due to peer pressure and desire for attention.18 TFSVA can impact individuals of all ages, yet this phenomenon among the adult population was understudied.19 20 Adults are legally considered capable of providing consent in most jurisdictions. However, issues like sexual coercion or exploitation through technology can still occur alike to youth and adolescents.21 In addition, adults are more likely to experience symptoms like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder due to social stigma and shame.22 Therefore, it is important to investigate this phenomenon among different age groups and the subsequent analysis of this review will also be categorised based on different populations.

Currently, there is no agreed-upon terminology or definition among scholars who study TFSVA resulting in a diverse range of concepts across the literature.14 19 This lack of uniformity makes it difficult to assess the prevalence and effects of these behaviours.23 The lack of standardised measurements could have substantially affected the interpretation of study findings. It is important to continue gathering data to develop a standardised and comprehensive measurement that assesses broader perspectives of TFSVA.

To the best of our knowledge, there is no systematically reviewed evidence available on the existing measurement for TFSVA. It is difficult to conduct a systematic review on this topic due to a lack of precise definitions and research variables in the current evidence about TFSVA, which results in a wide array of measurements to assess different forms and outcomes of TFSVA. For that reason, a scoping review is appropriate to explore the emerging and complex nature of TFSVA measurements where existing research may be heterogeneous and lack synthesis. Although the concepts of TFSVA are not well defined, the term conceptualises a phenomenon that encompasses various behaviours that are committed through technology to enable sexual and gender-based harassment and victimisation.8 24 TFSVA also extends beyond physical violence and includes psychologically harmful acts.14 In this study, TFSVA refers to any form of sexual violence, exploitation or harassment through the misuse of digital technologies, with reference to a recent scoping review about TFSVA.10 This scoping review can map the known information about a topic based on available information and identify potential gaps in the literature to assess the state of knowledge about the topic.25 This scoping review will provide a broad overview of the available research evidence relating to the existing measurements of TFSVA.

Ethics and dissemination

Since the scoping review methodology consists of reviewing and collecting data from publicly available materials, this study does not require ethics approval. As empirical studies of TFSVA remain limited in the academic arena and there is an absence of evidence to support the development of a standardised TFSVA measurement, a scoping review is useful to map the literature and to bridge the gaps. The results of this review are expected to highlight various types of TFSVA measurements developed in different settings and populations, which will help relevant practitioners in the assessment of TFSVA. The paper will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication and conference presentations. This review will be the first step of a study to develop a reliable and valid measurement to assess TFSVA. Further work is required to develop measurements adapted for specific populations and tested to ensure acceptability and cultural competence.