Women who are politically active in social media are frequently faced with online hate speech. The extent and causes of this form of misogyny as well as possible countermeasures will be addressed in a discussion event in Brussels at 5 p.m. on March 21. The event will also be livestreamed. Janina Steinert, Professor of Global Health at TUM, will present a survey conducted among Members of the European Parliament.
The survey results show that both female and male MEPs face online hate speech. However, the female respondents are more likely to experience certain forms of hate including sexualized verbal violence, to feel intimidated by it and to reduce their social media activities. The issue will be discussed by Members of the European Parliament and Helena Dalli, the EU Commissioner for Equality, along with researchers and authors.
Program:
"Tackling Online Misogyny Against Politically Active Women"
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
European Parliament
Registration for in-person or livestream attendance
5 p.m.: Helena Dalli, Eropean Commissioner for Equality
5.10: Diane Abbott, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom (video message)
5.15: Janina Steinert, professor of global health, TUM: "Online Violence Against Female Politicians: Empirical Insights"
5.25: Theresa Bielowski & Pierette Herzberger Fofana, MEP
5.30: Ingrid Brodnig, author: "Hate Speech as a Political Tool"
5.40: Maria Noichl & Evin Incir, MEP
5.45: Sawsan Chebli, Former State Secretary in Berlin: "LOUD - Why Hate Speech is Real Violence"
5.55: Delara Burkhardt & Evelyn Regner, MEP
6 p.m.: Discussion
The event will be hosted by the professorships Global Health (Prof. Janina Steinert) and for Computational Social Science und Big Data (Prof. Jürgen Pfeffer) and by the S&D and Green / EFA groups in the European Parliament.
Case studies in Germany, India and Brazil
The event is part of the research project "Understanding, Detecting, and Mitigating Online Misogyny Against Politically Active Women". A team from TUM, the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy, and LMU Munich is investigating the phenomena surrounding this kind of misogyny. This includes the analysis of cultural differences based on case studies in Germany, India and Brazil. They also want to develop automated methods for the early identification of misogynistic dynamics.
The project is funded by the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt), an institute of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BAdW).
