“You don’t talk like a woman”: the influence of gender identity in the constructions of online misogyny

ABSTRACT

The expansion of the Internet and social media has led to growing global interests in enhancing online safety of all categories of users. Nonetheless, the prevalence of online misogyny is worsening across virtual contexts. This study employs online interviews with Nigerian women on Facebook to examine the manifestations, effects, and strategies for navigating online misogyny. Findings reveal that feminism, a budding feature of the Nigerian social media is fast becoming a central motivating factor for online misogyny. Consequently, women’s increasing online engagements are sparking incidents of misogyny that consciously serve to limit their online voices and visibility. Women’s experiences of online misogyny are interrogated as iterative of mainstream patriarchal ideology while muted group theory portraying women’s positioning as a traditionally muted group in mainstream society is deployed to unpack the constructions of misogyny and silencing. Findings challenge common portrayals of social media as gender-neutral environments. Misogynists attack women who adopt feminist tags and those considered pushovers. In response, women adopt a two-tier strategy: “moral persuasion” or “going hard” to deal with online abuse. This approach constitutes serious emotional labour on the part of women and despite its utility, remains unsustainable in fighting online misogyny.

KEYWORDS:

• Facebook
• feminism
• internet
• misogyny
• social media

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Acknowledgments

I wish to express profound appreciation to Dr. Jonathan Simmons and Dr. Uche Umezurike, for their helpful comments on the earlier draft of the manuscript. The author would also like to thank the journal editors, Cynthia Carter and Isabel Molina-Guzmán, as well as the anonymous reviewers whose roles and valued contributions significantly improved this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Bridget O. Alichie

Bridget O. Alichie is currently studying for her PhD in Sociology at the University of Alberta, Canada. Her research interests are in the fields of Criminology and Social Justice, Gender & Sexuality, and New Media Studies.