Megan Ortwein spoke on the Advancing Access to Justice & Countering the Manosphere at Germany’s CSW70 Side Event on Digital Violence which explored how digital violence, online misogyny, and manosphere adjacent content shape gender inequality in online spaces. Megan Ortwein worked on a project in her Social Impact Consulting course alongside Lekhya Kantheti, Aparna Vagvala, and Jennifer Lin under the guidance of Professor Mara van Loggerenberg in partnership with UN Women’s HeForShe initiative through Francesco Merola. 

The panel focused on access to justice in cases of digital violence and the growing influence of the manosphere. The discussion highlighted how online spaces have become central to social life, but also places where misogyny, harassment, and harmful gender narratives can spread quickly.

A key point was that manosphere content often begins through everyday topics like fitness, dating advice, and self improvement. For young men dealing with loneliness or uncertainty, these spaces can offer belonging, but they can also reinforce harmful views about women and gender equality.

The event emphasized that addressing digital violence requires more than legal action. It also requires stronger platform accountability, safer algorithms, digital literacy, and positive alternatives that promote healthier ideas of masculinity.

Overall, the discussion showed that access to justice online is not only about responding to harm after it happens. It is also about preventing harmful narratives from spreading and building safer, more inclusive digital spaces for everyone.

NYU Stern student Megan Ortwein at the Permanent German Mission to the United Nations during a side event for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70).

You can read more about this panel here!