MEP Abir Al-Sahlani may not be a household name, but she has been holding the European Parliament to account on matters of sexual violence, problematic rhetoric and gender equality since 2019.
Her work as a member of the European Parliament for the liberal Renew Europe has spearheaded safe access to abortion across the EU, and is now on the forefront of developing Europe-wide legal definition for rape based on giving consent.
Her outspoken criticism of conservative values in the European right as well as her resonating presence on social media have made her a subject of controversy, but internet hate and media tycoons haven’t stopped the impressive rate of her work.
You may have seen earlier this week that several men in the Czech Republic were arrested on charges of human trafficking for managing the accounts of young women on the adult entertainment platform OnlyFans, which is yet another way in which women can lose agency, become trafficked, and ultimately become victims of deep fakes. What are the risks for women in the artificial intelligence age, and how can the EU regulate these new types of women’s exploitation?
The online sexual abuse against women has taken on an industrial scale. Gender-based violence has ordinarily been one-to-one, or maybe you have a gang that has exercised gender-based violence against one woman. Of course, the personal experience, the devastation that it comes with has a huge impact for the woman, but it was on a smaller scale.
