Online Misogyny
Understanding, Detecting, and Mitigating Online Misogyny Against Politically Active Women” is a new multiyear interdisciplinary project in the For Digital Dignity research program. Sahana Udupa will be steering the project together with team members Tobias Englmeier, Oeendrila Lahiri, Leah Nann, Naemi Stolte and Axel Wisiorek. The project (2022-2026) is funded by the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (BIDT) and will be jointly carried out by a team of ethnographers, sociologists and computer scientists at the University of Munich (LMU) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Project outline
More than two billion people use social media every day. Many of them discuss political topics online. Radicalization, extreme speech, and in particular online misogyny against politically active women have become alarming negative features of online discussions. In this disciplinary project, we will employ mixed-methods approaches to three case studies in Germany, India, and Brazil to better understand the content and dynamics of online misogyny against politically active women and to develop methods for early identification of such emerging dynamics. We will collaborate with subject matter experts in India and Brazil as well as with media partners and affected female politicians. With citizen social science tools we will involve the general public in the process of identifying emerging campaigns of online misogyny against politically active women. This project will also develop policy briefs and regulatory approaches to address online misogyny.
