Opinion: Want to empower women? Call out hate speech online

On International Women's Day, people are protesting against misogyny and violence against women. Hate speech targeting women online threatens our existence — and cannot be tolerated, says DW's Wafaa Albadry.

Online aggression has taken various forms, including vitriolic messages

 and comments threatening assault and rape

This is my mantra: "I'm a brave woman; I can do it all”. Yet still, I'm a little hesitant when it comes to using the internet. I can't count how many times I was attacked online, be it for my work, for my moral stances, or even for just my presence.

Vitriolic messages and comments — with sexual connotations — have been used to intimidate me, including threats to beat me up or rape me. I tried to report it and talk openly about it online, but I was shamed for it and silenced. 

So I retreated and went offline to protect myself, as well as my time and energy chasing after these attackers. But this also resulted in my withdrawal and fear from the internet world.

DW's Wafaa Walbadry

When I spoke about it with other women, I realized I wasn't alone: Cyber violence, in various forms, had affected almost all the women I know. And even when the hate stops, long-lasting emotional effects often remain. 

Annalena Baerbock, Germany's first female foreign minister, was a target of sexist hate speech when she was a chancellor candidate last year. A strong woman, former Chancellor Angela Merkel, was also subjected to hate speech online. Green Party co-leader Ricarda Lang was body shamed and threatened online with rape.

Endless examples can be found all over Europe, from journalists to artists and other women who are simply active online. And it is not a "first-world problem," it is a global phenomenon that is alarming: those who commit such acts are targeting women's existence in the public sphere. It is part of sidelining women from daily discourse — a discourse that is led primarily by men.

Hate speech vs. freedom of speech

Germany has some of the world's toughest data privacy laws — and, oftentimes, this allows trolls to go unchecked. Online aggressors remain anonymous to escape accountability and to feel protected from legal ramifications for their attacks.

This was reinforced when Germany's top court overturned an anti-hate speech law that, if it was evident that an alleged crime was committed, allowed user data of major social media platforms to be passed on to the police for an investigation.

Now we need to prevent such a setback from spiraling. Online platforms need to use their technology to develop tools that better prevent hate speech. Lawmakers and law enforcement need to treat cases with sensitivity, as well as impose — and enforce — criminal punishments that deter such behavior.

I believe that hate speech cannot be protected under the guise of freedom of speech. I believe that hate speech is a weapon used to target society's most vulnerable. And if it is tolerated, it empowers those who want to hurt others — and carry on unchallenged. We as a society need to take a stand against hate speech: both men and women, law enforcement and social media platforms. 

I'm a strong woman, but I cannot — nor can any other woman — do it all alone. No woman should.

Digital Protest: Women fighting for

their rights using the power of social

media

Women’s rights, protecting the environment, or fighting hate speech: Women worldwide are politically active online. They face online and offline abuse.

Four women, four continents, countless causes: The political activists have one thing in common: They are using online tools to lead a new wave of feminist and pro-democracy protests online. The digital sphere is a space for women a space to speak up and be heard.
 

Rosebell Kagumire, a political activist from Uganda

Rosebell Kagumire from Uganda runs the website "AfricanFeminism.com", which gives a voice to women across the African continent. To her, social media and the internet are tools for sharing her vision of a better world and for connecting with like-minded women.

 

Iranian activist Masih Alinejad

Using catchy hashtags in one way to raise awareness for campaigns. In Latin America, #NiUnaMenos – not even one less – became the slogan for the fight against femicides. Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, who lives in exile, created the hashtag #Whitewednesdays: As a sign of protest against compulsory veiling laws, women post photos and videos of themselves without a veil or wearing white on Wednesdays.

 

Nigerian climate activist Adenike Oladosu

With #ActOnLakeChad, Nigerian climate activist Adenike Oladosu calls for determination and real action to stop climate change. These are just three examples of women around the world using digital tools and platforms to raise their voice and connect with other activists.

 

Ofelia Fernández, an Argentinian politician

But not all their online followers are fans. The young Argentinian politician Ofelia Fernández is often targeted with emails and messages on social media containing death threats, rape threats or hateful abuse. And for fear of abduction by the Iranian regime, activist Masih Alinejad needs to have personal security with her at all times – even in the US.

Being a woman, being active online and speaking out – that's often all it takes for activist women to be bombarded with online abuse, threats, or sexual harassment. Gender plays an important role in who is targeted by abuse: In a study in the US from 2021, 33% of women under 35 years said they had sexually harassed online before. For men in the same age group, it was just 11%.

The four women in this series won't stop speaking out and protesting, even if it has often pushed them to their personal limit.

Despite all difficulties: Social media is connecting women around the world so they can support one another in the push for change.