By megan hatfield (zeta sigma, missouri state university), assistant director of education and leadership initiatives
Since Alpha Chi Omega adopted domestic violence awareness as our philanthropic mission 33 years ago, our members have been committed to education, advocacy and survivor support. Our efforts during Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2025 have focused on a growing form of abuse: technology-facilitated abuse. This kind of abuse is real and is generating new safety risks for individuals.
This month, we were joined for a webinar by Sloan Thompson, director of training and education at EndTAB, an industry leader in digital abuse prevention. She provided insights into digital sexual violence, image-based abuse and sextortion scams. Her message was clear: digital abuse is not just a tech issue; it’s a violence prevention issue that must be treated with the seriousness it deserves.
Here are three takeaways:
We don’t just have a physical body anymore—we have a digital body TOO
Our digital body is the online representation of us—it’s the images, videos, voice recordings and other content we or others share of us online. In the digital age, bodily autonomy must include the right to control these representations. When we frame digital bodily autonomy this way, image-based abuse becomes not just a topic of harm but also as a violation of our rights. We need to treat it seriously.
digital violence is real violence
Digital violence can be easier to commit and harder to escape. It follows victims through their devices, making harm persistent, invasive and often invisible. Online platforms remove barriers between the perpetrators causing harm and those who experience it. Additionally, abusive actions that would be difficult and take tremendous effort to do in the real world, like stalking, have a new level of convenience digitally. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now intensifying this threat, with AI able to easily create sexually explicit images of women., and Apps that create deepfakes or undress photos are widely available and even being marketed to youth.
there are practical strategies to protect yourself and support survivors of digital violence
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Supporting survivors of abuse begins by believing them and validating their experience. When possible, collect and preserve evidence of digital abuse with screenshots or downloads. If facing image-based abuse, several online tools are available to assist with taking down images. Google allows removal of nonconsensual intimate content from search results. Platforms like stopNCII.org can also help prevent the spread of intimate or AI-generated images.
Watch our full Digital Well-Being and Online Safety webinar recording for more insights and tips from EndTAB. Access additional resources on safety planning, image-based abuse, account and device safety, and home safety. This October especially, we are reminded that domestic violence awareness and prevention continue to evolve with the digital age, and there is still much work to do.