Percepción, conductas y experiencias sobre violencia de género en espacios virtuales en adolescentes de bachillerato de la Unidad Educativa Santana, en Cuenca-Azuay, periodo 2022

Abstract

Internet use is common nowadays, making it impossible to deny its importance. However, even if the internet has benefits such as better connectivity, access to information, communication and entertainment; it also has become one of the mechanisms through which gender-based violence is exercised. This phenomenon, known as violence in virtual spaces has been defined as a form of harassment and intimidation by a person or a group that involves the use of the network to give rise to aggression, especially affects the adolescent population, since the frequent management of social networks in this population makes them more likely to suffer this type of violence. The main objective of this investigation is to describe the perception, behaviors, and experiences of gender violence in virtual spaces among high school adolescents of the Santana Educational Unit, in Cuenca-Azuay, 2022. The specific objectives are to characterize users based on domain and technological use, identify and determine the perception of virtual environments such as violent environments, risky behaviors, and register the experiences around gender-based violence. The study has a descriptive-quantitative approach, with a non-experimental design, cross-sectional. We worked with a population of 137 students. To analyze and identify youth's perceptions, behaviors, and experiences on gender violence in virtual spaces, we employed Gender Violence Questionnaire 2.0. Results show that gender violence in virtual spaces is present and affects the selected population, which occurs in greater proportion to women than men and punishes men who present behaviors related to roles of femininity and homosexuality. It is concluded that more than 93.4 % of the population studied perceives virtual spaces as significantly more violent than physical spaces.