UNAIR NEWS – Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) continues to make efforts to prevent and handle sexual violence in its community. It can be seen in the Webinar Series #TemanBicara Volume 2 which was held by UNAIR’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Handling Task Force (Satgas PPKS) on Thursday, December 8, 2022.

The webinar which was held in commemoration of 16 Days of Anti-Violence Against Women 2022 was entitled One Voice for the TPKS Law: Fight Stigma Against Victims of Sexual Violence. The webinar was attended by Prof. Dr. Bambang Sektiari Lukiswanto DEA drh as UNAIR Vice Rector for Academic, Student and Alumni Affairs to open the activity.

Gender discrimination

Starting the activity, Prof. Diah Ariani Arimbi SS MA PhD as Head of UNAIR PPKS Task Force Selection Committee spoke at this webinar and explained about gender discrimination in Indonesia.

“Some examples of gender discrimination are words in the form of personal insults, indifference, stereotypes, intentional mistakes, denial of access, and co-optation of jobs,” she explained.

Violence against women

Prof Diah considers that gender discrimination is one of the reasons for violence against women. There are several forms of violence against women, such as sexual violence, physical violence, economic violence, and emotional violence.

Violence against women can occur under any circumstances, such as from superiority, work relations, social relations, and conflict situations. In addition, it can be done anywhere, by anyone, and for anyone.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a new form of sexual violence has emerged, namely online gender-based violence or KBGO. Examples include cyber stalking, doxing, trolling, cyberbullying, hate speech, public shaming, and intimidation,” explained Prof. Diah.

Postponement to report sexual violence

However, there is still a lot of sexual violence that goes unreported. “Usually because the victim feels that no one will trust them. Also, the law is still not in favor of the victim,” explained Prof. Diah.

Furthermore, Prof Diah explained that the victim would tend to be blamed for the sexual violence. The victim was also worried that their personal life would be exposed to the public so that they would receive retaliation from the perpetrator because of the report they made. “Sometimes, incest cases can also break up the family, ” she explained. (*)

Author: Tristania Faisa Adam

Editor: Binti Q Masruroh