Tez went through a period where she was receiving several inappropriate messages. She was told things like “Please send me a video of yourself squirting”, “I would love to squirt on your tits, they’re probably very perky, I’ll nut all over them” and while they bothered her, she largely ignored them. 

Then, she went live on social media, and saw similarly degrading comments being posted for the world to see; that’s when she decided to take action. 

“This wasn’t an uwijja mhux xorta situation. He did it once, I ignored it, he did it twice, three times, four times and so I decided to report the commenter to the cybercrime unit.”

Tez went down to the police station, opened a report, and a whole year later, the police managed to track the IP address of the profile. Tez said that the police asked whether she wanted to waver it but she said “No, I want this person to go down to the station and I want to see him face to face… and I did”.

“Things could have ended a lot worse,” she said, explaining that the person behind the inappropriate messages and comments was an ex-student who attended a school she used to work at.

Tez went on to say that, as an educator, she hoped that he realises that that was not okay.

From her experience, Tez explained that not many people know what to do in these situations, while another guest chimed in and said “there isn’t much awareness”.

Tez now makes it a point to speak to her boys at school about what happened and let them know that it was wrong.

She said that many people would just screenshot the comment, share it to their friends, and express how irritating it is to be objectified in such a vulgar way.

Tez even said that she’s not opposed to a dirty comment here and there, but something like that was way out of order so, she felt like she had to do something about it.

Cyberharassment is very real and absolutely not okay. It’s something that legislators in regional organisations as well as nation-states have been grappling with to protect netizens while also ensuring that free speech is safeguarded.

When it comes to Malta, 4% of women were subjected to cyber harassment between 2014 and 2019, according to a survey by the FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey, 2019.

Meanwhile, among women aged 16-29, 10 % experienced cyber harassment in the past five years, and 3% in the past 12 months.

The SheWord comes out every Thursday so keep your eyes peeled for more engaging discussions about women’s issues.

Have you ever been the victim of online harassment and want to share your story? Reach out to [email protected]