It’s obvious that a touch of a woman’s knee from a man with power means something different than it would from a peer. We humans are capable of sophisticated communication by the subtlest of means. When a senior male politician makes such a move towards a young female journalist or sends a florid text message, it is hardly a stretch to read that as a signal of interest – and if it comes during, say, a conversation about careers, a promise of advancement if the implied offer is accepted. And of negative consequences if it is declined.

In Russia, at the highest levels of government and society, violence against women is tolerated and even defended. According to Human Rights Watch, each year roughly 12,000 women there are killed, most often by husbands, lovers, and other men close to the victims. Police in Russia are often slow to respond to calls for help from women, or don’t respond at all—which means that the internet is often the place of last resort. And women who talk about their abuse, on television or the web, are punished with a startling amount of online abuse.