Egyptian victims of sexual extortion find help online
The Qawem platform receives more than 300 assistance requests a day from women and girls who have been subjected to sexual extortion.
CAIRO — Statistics on violence and crimes against women released on Aug. 17 by the nongovernmental organization Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality indicated that only six cases of sexual extortion were reported in the second quarter of 2021.
Although this figure suggests that very few Egyptian women are victims of this crime, the reality is very different, according to Mohammed al-Yamani, the administrator and director of a platform called Qawem, which provides protection and support for women and girls against sexual violence and extortion.
“We receive 300 messages on average per day from people seeking Qawem’s assistance in sextortion cases,” Yamani told Al-Monitor.
Sexual extortion involves the use of sexually explicit or suggestive content such as photos, videos and messages to extort money or to coerce the victim into sex.
