Digital abuse is making the web a ‘Wild West’ for women and girls
The Cayman Compass article “Digital abuse is making the web a ‘Wild West’ for women and girls” explains how the rapid rise of online technology and digital platforms has led to increasing risks of cyber-enabled abuse that disproportionately affects women and girls in the Cayman Islands and beyond. Advocates and police describe the digital world as akin to a “wild west,” where new forms of crime such as online harassment, stalking, grooming and image-based abuse are becoming commonplace, and authorities are struggling to keep up with the speed of technological change. Women and girls face a particularly high burden of digital abuse, including cases where intimate images are shared without consent — often used for coercion or blackmail — and new tools like AI expand the ways abusers can target victims.
Police officers and campaigners noted that while existing laws such as harassment, stalking and blackmail statutes are used to pursue offenders, legal frameworks have not kept pace with the evolving digital threats, and some harmful behaviours fall into grey areas not explicitly covered by current legislation. They highlighted that prevention, awareness and early reporting are essential for stopping abuse, not just enforcement after the fact.
Community leaders emphasised that many women and girls change their online behaviour out of fear — limiting their digital participation or retreating from platforms where they should feel free to engage — and called for greater education, better legal protections and cultural change to ensure safety online mirrors protections offline.
