Liberia, June 5 -- The video lasted less than two minutes.

A young woman walking through Red Light Market in Monrovia was suddenly surrounded by a group of men who tore the clothes from her body. Her offense, they claimed, was, ironically, dressing indecently. Someone filmed the attack. Within hours, the footage spread across Facebook and WhatsApp, turning a public assault into public shaming on a national scale.

The Liberia National Police arrested eleven suspects. But by then, the woman's humiliation had already traveled across thousands of phones and comment sections.

For many Liberian women, the violence itself was horrifying. The reaction online was worse. Some people condemned the attack. Others laughed, reposted the video, or a...