Online Misogyny: A Challenge for Digital Feminism?
(I just ran across this, apparently one can access the whole piece through one's school or library.
Online Misogyny: A Challenge for Digital Feminism?
Kim Barker and Olga Jurasz
Abstract
The rise of online feminist activism has been a catalyst for driving attention globally to issues
concerning women and their everyday experiences of violence and harassment, both online
and offline. The Internet, and in particular social media platforms, have also been places of
political struggle and protest for many women who otherwise would have been unable to
speak out about public and political issues. At the same time, women who participate in these
online fora face various forms of violence—predominantly text-based—including online
misogyny. Such acts severely affect women’s rights to equal participation in the public sphere,
taken here to include the online public sphere, on an equal basis with men. Drawing on
examples of online violence against women in politics (OVAWP), this paper examines the
phenomena of online violence against women (OVAW) and online misogyny. It argues that
both forms of abuse of women create significant obstacles to women’s equal participation in
public and political life, while also affecting women’s rights to freely express their views. Finally,
this paper considers the implications of online misogyny and OVAW generally for digital
feminism.
Introduction: The Internet – A Wealth of Riches?
The Internet, and digital media generally, offer enormous potential as spaces for engagement,
activism, and contentious debates. The ideal of an all-inclusive, participatory space that is
genuinely open to all poses a challenge for global feminism. Online spaces and platforms are
notoriously hostile places for women who dare to share opinions or speak out against the
crowd. Spaces such as Twitter or Facebook, which are ideally suited to advocacy, campaigning,
and political speech, are increasingly spaces where women are shut down and excluded from
public participation. Recent studies have shown that significant percentages of women and
The publisher has granted permission for use of this work in this Repository. Published in Journal of
International Affairs, 72(2), pp. 95-114, 2019 by Columbia University: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26760834
girls have faced abuse online, especially on social media, with the vast majority of such abuse
motivated by sex and gender discrimination. 1
Sadly, existing socio-legal structures and systems are failing to deal with this phenomenon and
are instead perpetuating the harassment and discrimination that occurs online. Rather than
providing a platform to facilitate campaigning for equality, anti-discrimination, and gender
parity objectives, the Internet is evolving rapidly into a space which is increasingly hostile,
particularly for vocal women advocates. The backlash that such women receive for speaking
out—particularly about issues relating to gender equality—is not only damaging, but also
severely undermines the idea of equality of participation in public life. Taking online violence
against women in politics (OVAWP) as an example, this paper offers a fresh perspective on the
dangerous, unchecked, and discriminatory phenomenon of online misogyny, advocating for
greater anti-discrimination attention at national and international levels to safeguard the rise
of global and digital feminism.
This article enriches existing scholarship relating to the abuse of women online and the damage
that failure to tackle this problem has done to digital feminism. a In particular, it brings together
perspectives from law, politics, and gender studies, using contemporary examples to offer a
critique of this pressing issue. The discussion here not only outlines the failures of existing
structures, but advocates for rapid responses and calls on platforms as well as regulators to
effectively address gender-based abuse online.
Our research critically analyzes women’s rights to freely express their views online, drawing on
high-profile examples from the United Kingdom and further afield. These are particularly
significant given limited empirical data dealing with online violence against women, especially
in a global context.
. . .
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26760834 (if I am reading correctly, one can read the entire article here)
https://www.storre.stir.ac.uk/retrieve/7cf50d94-9f42-4b9c-9bbf-3eb55ab5fec7/Barker%20and%20Jurasz_Online%20Misogyny%20%28JIA%20accepted%29%20.pdf