Further, women and sexual minorities are mostly affected by ICT enabled violence in the form of online sexual coercion and extortion, emotional blackmailing, cyber bullying, verbal attacks and defamation of character. (40) An interview with the Gays And Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) highlighted that the LGBTIQ community faces online violence with their personal information often exposed by intolerant members of the community. They also face threats of physical harm and even murder as a result of intolerance and homophobia. (41) (42) bloggers bear the brunt of cyberbullying and sexual harassment, among many other violent online actions. Abusive comments and hate speech create a chilling effect on political participation and are consistently being used to silence female journalists. This scourge poses a real threat towards the safety and security of female journalists and prominent personalities in the media. In return, victims of ICT enabled violence have resorted to an array of coping mechanisms, including reporting the abuse to law enforcement agencies, deleting social media posts, blocking and withdrawing from using social media platforms for a specified period of time. However, the efficacy of these actions remains unknown given the culture of silence prevailing among victims of online abuse and violence. Evidence on follow-up by law enforcement agencies is lacking, which further complicates the situation. While current legal and policy reforms, sensitisation and mitigation efforts by the government and other stakeholders are encouraging, more tailored efforts are necessary to ensure that women and girls in the media fully participate in the digital sphere. The fact that social media platforms do not have a physical presence in most of the countries is seen as contributing to a lack of understanding local context and inaction with regards to timeous taking down of abusive content on their platforms leading to lack of effectiveness in protecting female journalists in their work and preventing female personalities from engaging in democratic discourses and other opportunities available The chilling effect associated with OGBV often pushes women and girls offline. FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS In summary this article presents an analysis of the cases of violence online from a gender and media perspective in the eight countries where a gender based violence online research was carried out. The article presents unique manifestations of violence online, as cyberbullying, trolling, hate speech, body shaming and non-consensual sharing of intimate images/ videos; further demonstrating that female media practitioners and journalists, celebrities and political aspirants, socialites, media persons, activists, Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa CREDIT: zimetro.co.zw STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT 2021 23 Female journalists such as Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa and Samantha Musa (MisRed) have been bullied online while female celebrities are also affected. A case in point is the attack on female celebrities by a social media personality called Shadaya Knight. (39)