Anti-cyberbullying website launched to protect women online

For Tara Farahani, being cyber-stalked was a suffocating experience.

"No matter how many times you block them, they would create a new account.Then, when you delete your account, they message you on another platform."

Now the 25-year-old ispart of the all-womanteam behind Webbing With Wisdom, a website aimed at giving women their autonomy back online.

"Itdoesn'tmatter what type of content you're posting. Just by virtue of being a woman online, that kind of stuff just follows you," saidFarahani,who was part of aresearch team that listened to more than300 young women across Toronto overtwo years.

The team used the insights from those women and their experiences using social media.to create Webbing With Wisdom.

It's the brainchild of three youth and anti-violence agencies in Toronto: St. Stephen's Community House, METRAC and East Metro Youth Services.

Other help resources were out of touch,teens say

"So we started with basics," said Karen Arthurton, professor of social work at Ryerson University. "How do I stop somebody?How do I report them? Somebody's stalking me, what to I do? How do I safely 'sext'with somebody?"

Arthurtonsaid cyberbullyinghas amplified since young people gravitate to selfie-driven social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram.

"Most of what was out there was gearedtoward parents," said Farahani,who would comb through paragraphs of web copywith youths to make sure they got the language right. "'Calm down on the slang,' they would tell us sometimes."

New website protecting young people from cyberbullying

8 years ago

Duration 2:15

Reporter Ali Chiasson sits down with the people behind "Webbing with Wisdom," a website that helps young people deal with cyberbullying.

There are subheadings that read, "Bae wants to text, what should I do?"and "Leave me thefrigalone,cyberbullyingisn't funny business."The advice is written in a casual tone too but contributed by trained social workers and youth counsellors.

'What if I want to sext?'

There is a section on the site that explains the risk factors around sending sexually explicit messages or photos of

yourself. It's followed up with advice on how to sextsafely where advice is given to crop out one's face, tattoos, birthmarks, anything that could reveal your identity.

While this can be seen as controversial advice, it's realistic, says Farahani."We're a lot about harm reduction, but there is a young person out there who has already sent that sext or who wants to send that sext."

Throughout their work, the Webbing With Wisdom team has heard from many women who saythey didn't know where to turn for help a counselloror the police.

"There was one woman had shared with me that she told a police officer that someone tweeted her a death threat and the police officer said, 'What's a tweet?'"

The Webbing With Wisdom site is aimed at bridging the gap. They are considering including a live-chat feature where people can ask questions and get immediate answers from trained social service workers.