A Web of Hate? The influence of online hate comments on gendered political participation on the internet

Although gender gaps in traditional forms of political participation are shrinking across Western democracies, comparative studies show persistent differences in the extent to which women and men engage in politics online. Given the essential role of online politics in modern democracies, how can we understand this gap? We posit that it is essential to take into account unique aspects of engagement in the digital realm. Specifically, research shows that online violence such as hate speech impacts not only the individuals it targets but also those who witness it. Women are among the groups most heavily targeted by online hate speech, and gendered socialization causes women to be more sensitive to conflict and to avoid confrontation. Thus, we ask, does a hostile atmosphere on the internet, especially in the shape of hateful comments in online discourse, negatively affect women’s propensity to engage online? To answer our research question and investigate the causal relationship between online hate and women’s online engagement, we employ a pre-registered 2 x 2 between subject vignette experiment in a computer-assisted Random Digital Dialling telephone interview survey in a probability sample (n = 2,200) of German citizens to explore the circumstances under which women’s online engagement might be demobilized. Our findings highlight the relevance of novel forms of gendered violence in the digitalized world for political behavior and gender inequalities.