When Patricia Azcagorta ran as a candidate for mayor of Caborca, Sonora, in Mexico in 2018, a video was circulated on social media of a woman dancing in her underwear, together with photos of Azcagorta, and messages accusing her of being a stripper.
Using intimate images - real or fake – over the Internet to attack a woman's credibility, shame her, or silence her, is one of various types of online violence against women that the national Mexican government will likely formalize as a crime in coming months.
Called the Olimpia law, though it is actually a modification to an existing law on women's right to a life free of violence, the amendment is one of few legal initiatives in Mexico with grassroots origins. It was passed unanimously by the national congress in November last year following a strong campaign by Olimpia Coral Melo and other feminist groups. It now needs to be passed by the senate.
