#SaferInternetDay: A Safer Internet for Young Girls: A Feminist Call for Digital Freedom and Protection

The internet can be a powerful space for young girls, a place to learn, express themselves, build confidence, and find community. But too often, it is also a space where girls face harassment, silencing, body shaming, surveillance, and gender-based online abuse. A feminist approach to digital safety insists on one simple truth: girls deserve to be safe, visible, and powerful online, without fear.

Why digital safety for girls is a feminist issue

Girls are disproportionately targeted online because of their gender. From cyberbullying and misogynistic comments to pressure around appearance and harmful stereotypes, these experiences limit girls’ freedom and participation in digital spaces. Feminist digital safety is about protecting girls’ rights, voices, and well-being, not restricting their presence.

The digital risks young girls face

• Gender-based cyberbullying and harassment
• Pressure to conform to harmful beauty standards
• Online grooming and manipulation
• Silencing of girls’ opinions and leadership
• Misuse of personal data and images

What feminist digital safety looks like

1. Centering girls’ voices
   Girls should be encouraged to speak, create, lead, and take up space online. Their opinions matter, online and offline.
2. Teaching consent and boundaries online
   Girls have the right to say no, to block, report, and leave unsafe digital spaces without guilt or blame.
3. Building confidence and critical thinking
   Equip girls to question what they see online, challenge stereotypes, and recognize harmful narratives about gender and worth.
4. Protecting privacy as a right
   Girls deserve control over their data, images, and digital identities. Privacy is not a privilege, it’s a right.
5. Standing against online gender-based violence
   Feminism online means calling out abuse, supporting survivors, and holding platforms and communities accountable.

Our collective responsibility

Parents, educators, activists, tech platforms, and policymakers all have a role to play. Creating a safer internet for young girls means designing systems that protect, laws that respond, and cultures that believe and support girls.

A feminist internet is one where young girls can explore, learn, and dream, without shrinking themselves to stay safe.
Because girls don’t need less internet.
They need a better, safer, fairer one.