We have spent decades teaching women how to protect themselves from strangers. Dulling out tips like, watch your drink, stay in groups, and do not walk alone at night. But recent reporting has exposed a far more unsettling reality for many women which suggests that threats to safety do not always come from outside our trusted circles of support. Sometimes they come from inside our own homes.

A months-long investigation by CNN uncovered online communities where men exchange advice on how to drug their wives or partners, record sexual assaults, and share those videos with others. In some cases, these acts are livestreamed, monetized, and encouraged by other users. What makes this story particularly alarming is not just the existence of these spaces, but how structured, normalized, and accessible they appear to be.

“These so-called ‘rape academies’ are not isolated,” CNN reporter Saskya Vandoorne found after going undercover in these forums. Vandoorne described communities where users actively coach one another and share footage of assaults.

Globally, nearly 1 in 3 women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization . Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has consistently found that the majority of sexual violence is perpetrated by someone the victim knows, often an intimate partner. What the CNN investigation reveals is not a new form of violence, but a new infrastructure supporting it.

The now widely reported case of Gisèle Pelicot underscores this point. For nearly a decade, her husband drugged her and invited dozens of men, many recruited online, to sexually assault her while she was unconscious. More than 50 men were ultimately convicted.

This was not an isolated incident. It was a blueprint. Bigger than that, this incident was only the tip of the iceberg to a much larger, insidious form of intimate partner violence.

Technology As An Amplifier

Technology did not create intimate partner violence, but it is rapidly transforming how it is coordinated, normalized, and concealed. “These online ecosystems create reinforcement loops,” says Dr. Jessica Taylor , a psychologist specializing in sexual violence. “Perpetrators are no longer acting in isolation, they are being validated, coached, and encouraged.”

Encrypted messaging platforms, niche forums, and user-generated content sites have allowed these networks to scale. Some forums have reported tens of thousands of users, while individual platforms hosting this type of content have drawn millions of monthly visits. Cybersecurity expert Eva Galperin , director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has warned that digital platforms are increasingly being used to facilitate abuse at scale, not just harassment, but exploitation and violence.

“This is about infrastructure,” she has noted in her work on tech-enabled abuse. “When harmful behavior becomes networked, it becomes normalized.”

When Consent Is Rewritten

At the center of these communities is a dangerous reframing of consent. Many perpetrators justify their actions within the context of marriage or long-term relationships, reflecting a persistent myth that intimacy equates to ongoing consent. Legally, marital rape is recognized across the United States. But culturally, ambiguity persists.

“Consent must be ongoing and informed,” says Dr. Jennifer Freyd , a psychologist known for her work on betrayal trauma. “When harm is inflicted by a trusted partner, victims are less likely to immediately recognize it as abuse.” This is particularly true in cases involving drug-facilitated assault, where victims may have limited or no memory of what occurred.

According to advocacy organizations like RAINN , drug-facilitated sexual assault remains significantly underreported. This is often due to lack of evidence, confusion, or delayed recognition. Often, even when a woman may become suspicious, she may feel hesitant to challenge or confront her partner.

The Normalization Of Harm

Perhaps the most disturbing element of these forums is not just the violence, but the tone. Users reportedly exchange tips, rate experiences, and offer encouragement, which transform acts of abuse into shared projects. “These communities function as echo chambers,” says Dr. Taylor. “They remove moral friction.”

Once moral friction disappears, escalation becomes easier. In some cases, users have reportedly sold sedatives, shared dosing instructions, and even profited from livestreamed assaults. This further blurs the line between criminal behavior and commodified content.

Despite growing awareness of tech-enabled abuse, enforcement remains inconsistent. Legal frameworks tend to focus on individual perpetrators, while platforms often rely on reactive moderation systems that struggle to detect private or coded communication. “There is a gap between criminal law and platform accountability,” says legal scholar Dr. Mary Anne Franks , an expert on online abuse and civil rights.

Franks explains, “We have laws that prohibit these acts, but fewer mechanisms to address the ecosystems that enable them.” This gap leaves victims navigating a system that is often ill-equipped to respond to technologically mediated harm.

For years, safety messaging has focused on avoidance. “Don’t go there, don’t do that.” However, these frameworks collapse when the harm originates within relationships. The CNN investigation, and the cases it reflects, force a more difficult question which asks what does safety look like when the threat is not external, but intimate?

“We need to move beyond individual responsibility narratives,” says Adam Dodge , founder of EndTAB (Ending Technology-Enabled Abuse). “This is a systemic issue that requires systemic solutions.” The exposure of these online communities is not the end of the story, it is the beginning of a larger reckoning.

Because the most dangerous assumption we can make is that this is rare. Because sadly, it is not. The more we treat it as an anomaly, the longer it remains one.