In what specific ways does digital harassment diverge along gender lines for elected officials? Erikson, Håkansson, and Josefsson (2023) examine the experiences of Swedish Members of Parliament, arguing that understanding and mitigating online hostility requires analyzing how abuse is gendered across three distinct dimensions: frequency, character, and consequences.
Drawing on original survey data and interviews with Swedish MPs, the authors demonstrate that while online abuse impacts both men and women, its dynamics vary substantially by dimension. In terms of frequency, women MPs do not experience a higher volume of online abuse than their male counterparts. However, the character of the hostility is starkly gendered, with female politicians facing significantly more sexualized harassment, sexist degradation, and attacks targeting their identity. Furthermore, the consequences of this abuse diverge in unexpected ways: while men exposed to high levels of hostility are slightly more inclined to consider leaving politics altogether, women report that online abuse circumscribes their personal agency and limits how they engage in public and political debate.
Learn more about this article here:
Erikson, J., Håkansson, S., & Josefsson, C. (2023). Three Dimensions of Gendered Online Abuse: Analyzing Swedish MPs’ Experiences of Social Media. Perspectives on Politics, 21(3), 896–912. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592721002048