On the afternoon of Monday, May 26, the Wolf Room at the Department of Communication and Social Research (CoRiS) hosted a seminar organized by the GIVRE research group. The event brought together several PRIN (Projects of National Interest): GIVRE, CYBER-VAWG, DIGIT, and IMAGES. Moderated by Francesca Comunello, the seminar explored the cross-cutting theme of digital gender-based violence through a variety of methodological approaches and complementary perspectives.
The seminar opened with a presentation by Mariacristina Sciannamblo and Chiara Carbone, who shared the latest findings from the GIVRE project. Their reflections underscored the complexity of defining online gender-based violence, a conceptual challenge that requires integrating three key dimensions: gender, technology, and violence. They also examined strategies of self-defense—both individual and collective—adopted by those who navigate digital spaces on a daily basis.
This was followed by contributions from the CYBER-VAWG project team—Chiara Gius, Angela Toffanin, and Claudia Capelli—who analyzed how young people aged 13 to 22 experience digital violence, often without recognizing it as such. While girls are more likely to perceive certain behaviors as forms of control, boys more frequently engage in overt forms of violence.
The DIGIT project—Intimacy and Digital Practices—was presented by Marco Scarcelli and Lorenza Parisi, who shared findings from the Young Research Group. Their presentation focused on young people’s awareness of so-called green and red flags in digital relationships: indicators that help identify healthy or toxic dynamics, which are key to violence prevention.
Paola Panarese then introduced the IMAGES project, which weaves together several complex fields of inquiry. Her presentation emphasized the importance of contextualizing the concept of fairness, recognizing that artificial intelligence is not neutral and can reproduce and amplify biases and discrimination—even in artistic and cultural domains.
The seminar provided a valuable forum for bringing together diverse approaches, research findings, and open questions from distinct projects, all united by a shared goal: to understand, define, and combat gender-based violence in its multiple digital forms. The discussions clearly highlighted the need for conceptual frameworks that can inform research, education, media practices, and public policy. They also pointed to generational differences in how violence is perceived, and to the fluid boundaries between control, normalization, and aggression—particularly within digital and technological environments, including those shaped by artificial intelligence.
Far from being a simple data-sharing exercise, the seminar offered critical insights and new research perspectives on how gender-based violence is perceived, represented, and governed within the national context.
