Manifestations of gender equality in online gendered harassment

Online gendered harassment is present and a problem for equal representation in all established democracies. However, are gendered harassments more sexist and more directed against women in democracies with stronger traditional gender roles? In this paper, we seek to answer the research question: How do gender equality norms manifest in online gendered harassment against politicians? Conducting a netnography, the authors Norah Schulten, Michael Hunklinger and Liza Mügge manually analysed online backlash against European Parliament (EP) candidates preceding the 2024 European election period. We compared how the backlash was gendered against male and female EP candidates in The Netherlands and Germany. While gender equality levels are relatively high in both societies, Germany can be viewed as a country with a subtle stronger history of traditional gender norms compared to the Netherlands. We monitored comment sections of the EP’s electoral posts on X, Instagram and TikTok. In interviews after the European elections, six Dutch and two German EP candidates reflected on their own gendered harassments. Our findings suggest that in The Netherlands, gendered harassments seem potentially more “equal” but they are still damaging for women and non-hegemonic men in politics. In our data, gendered harassments against Dutch EP candidates are less blunt, more diffuse and more difficult to dissect. For instance, gendered harassments target both men and women. Nonetheless, the frames in the misogynist, sexist, objectifying insults still devalue political participation of all women while only men are devalued who don’t fit in the default political masculine stereotype. Additionally, gendered harassments in The Netherlands seem more complex, messy and responsive to content of the thematic post of the politician. On the contrary, online harassments against German EP candidates were mainly blunt and sexist, were only insulting women and were unresponsive to the thematic post of the politician. Our conclusions have implications for how we view complex gendered harassments in societies where subtle gender equality norms are less traditional. Gendered backlash could be more hidden under the radar in less traditional societies, but still reinforce gender inequality. These manifestations demand different tools and analytical lenses to push back against the anti-gender backlash.