Hate speech is harmful to women: is gender an insurmountable barrier?

From housewives being beaten by their husbands, to the verbal violence and sexism suffered by many women on the Internet, what are the consequences of these behaviors for women? The “Spiral of Silence” effect has been a recurring theme in contemporary society, where gender issues seem to be an insurmountable gap. Imagine if your mother or a close female friend suffered from sexism in her life or at work, whether it would bring them invisible but indelible scars.

INTRODUCTION

what exactly is speech hate? And what does speech hate bring to women in real life and online?

Speech hate is when a certain group of people is insulted and denigrated verbally, online, or in writing, which negatively impacts the victim’s physical and emotional wellbeing.Political and religious views, physical appearance, color or ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation are just a few of the numerous factors that contribute to online harassment.The prevalence of sexual harassment against women, both in real life and online, is among the most alarming issues. (Flew, 2021)

In a patriarchal society, women have a weaker right to identity and even if they are well known female politicians, lawyers, journalists, executives of economic freedom, there is still more or less sexism. Throughout the ages, even today, this prejudice still exists, with the majority of men convinced of male dominance (Iacoviello, V, 2021) and hostile attitudes. Women are supposed to be the payer, giving birth and raising children and have no more rights to fight for themselves, leading to some bad acts of violence such as domestic violence and verbal abuse. Due to the physical structure of women in the quarrel, can only be in a weak position, resulting in domestic violence unlimited occurrences, for economic reasons and as a mother’s identity, fear of being known by the neighbors talked about, as the saying goes, “the family can not be exposed”, most women choose to keep quiet. But if they don’t explode in silence, they will perish in silence.

But is this hate speech really the root cause of gender issues between men and women? I think the key factor lies in the subliminal mindset and the hateful behavior of speech caused by the contempt for female identity.

Below is a YouTube video of women sharing their real cases of sexual harassment and assault.

New York Magazines. (Oct 18, 2017). Women Share Their Experiences With Sexual Assault and Harassment. YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Fxvf-9Ev8&t=20s

Real cases provide evidence to corroborate the unequal status between men and women, who suffer dehumanization just by dressing beautifully and just to please themselves. Hate speech against women is not only found in real life, but more often in the internet. When we watch Shakeology and YouTube, there are many cases of girls being sexually assaulted during nighttime activities, making them realize that they might be the “next victim” and raising their awareness and taking personal precautions. 2013) A 2020 study found that out of 14,000 women, more than 50% were harassed online, and about 20% expressed concern for their personal safety (Global Witness, 2023). (Global Witness, 2023) According to figure 1，research data shows that women in the 25 to 44 age group are more likely to experience sexual harassment, not just harassment, but also verbal abuse and psychological attacks. According to a large number of data and real-life cases, hate speech against women on the Internet is more likely to cause confrontation between men and women, and at the same time aggravate the undemocratic nature of the society, and also leave a hidden danger for some real-life problems in the future.

Figure 1: Percentage of Sexual Harassment Charges Filed by Women, by Age. Adapted from “Limiting Our Livelihoods: The Cumulative Impact of Sexual Harassment on Women’s Careers“,  AAUW analysis of 1995–2016 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sexual harassment charges data, acquired by Buzzfeed News. https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/limiting-our-livelihoods

Online platforms are actually more prone to gender-specific hate speech, the first is because of the high level of anonymity due to the fact that we do not know who we are talking to (Carlson, B, 2021), a loophole that can lead to the use of algorithms by “spammers” to engage in large-scale sexual harassment and swearing against women; the second is that the Internet is a very complex place where people can express their views and opinions freely because of the freedom of speech, and because human behavior can be easily influenced by emotions. The second is the complexity of information on the Internet, which allows people to express their views and opinions freely because of the freedom of speech, and the fact that human behavior can be easily influenced by emotions, which leads to the high index of online women’s speech bullying. Especially from the moral high ground, those women with status and position are more likely to be affected. When watching movies and TV dramas, we can see that there are a lot of dirty words that represent women, such as “bitch”, “slut”, and other words that associate women with animals or body parts, which are frequently used and have a certain bad influence. (Document 6) Why do these words represent women? Why do people open their mouths? The specificity of such words is something to think about. Some studies show that nearly 35% fewer women than men have access to the Internet, which results in women having less rights to speak on the Internet, and at the same time hinders the equality of the status of men and women. (Unwomen, 2021.)

Figure 2: The proportion of the most frequently used apps by users in the Z generation era. Adapted from”Gen Z in the UK, Perceptions, and experiences of misogyny on social media“, 21 March 2025.https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/toxic-tech-new-polling-exposes-widespread-online-misogyny-driving-gen-z-away-social

TikTok is seen as the worst offender when it comes to social platform software. 70% of respondents said they had encountered misogynistic content on TikTok, rising to 80% for women, then Instagram and Twitter. one respondent said that this behavior affects society irrevocably to the point that many people don’t realize it when it happens -It’s sad. Hatred of women is everywhere and dictates the way men behave online. (Savanta represents Amnesty International, 2025) Meanwhile Twitter breeds a behavior where hate speech cannot be visually discerned in its soft underbelly, (Kristina Van Sant, 2021.) Due to the lack of clear definitions of hate speech and the nature of verbal abuse that is often The lack of a clear definition of hate speech and the often ambiguous nature of verbal abuse have hindered both manual and automated detection methods, which has led to an increase in the number of people who take their pleasure in becoming “cyber-spammers” against women on the Internet.

Case in point: Hate speech attacks on women leaders in Finland

Figure 3: Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin |Jonathan Nackstrand. Adapted from”Finland’s women-led government targeted by online harassment” , by Leonie Cater.https://www.politico.eu/article/sanna-marin-finland-online-harassment-women-government-targeted

Real-life cyber incidents are happening in Finland, where female leaders, led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin, have been targeted by cyber miscreants. In a report on the findings, researcher Rolf Fredheim said that most of the ministers attacked were women who had been subjected to misogynistic abuse that attacked their own values, demeaned their decision-making abilities and questioned their leadership skills. The negative impact on women leaders is irreversible, not only does it diminish their power and make other leaders and colleagues suspicious of their conduct and behavior because of the harassment, but it also requires them to spend a lot of time dealing with the negative impact, and the humiliation and exhaustion they suffer both mentally and physically is really bad news.

Iiris Suomela also says that in such situations, “after a week of serious work and when I am physically tired, I choose not to deal with these issues directly because it is not only draining, but it also affects my mood.” (Leonie Cater, 2021.) It seems that women leaders all over the world are suffering from hate speech and online violence, with prominent women politicians such as Julia Gillard, Penny Wong, Sarah Hanson-Young and Mehreen Faruqi facing a lack of access to information. Prominent female politicians have faced relentless online abuse, often involving the implied threat of physical harm offline. (Fitriani, Angela, 2024.)

Is the impact of verbal abuse on women really serious? It is undeniable that men can also be caught in a state of internal conflict when they are subjected to some workplace verbal abuse and workplace harassment. But these are disproportionate problems, (Florence E. Enock, 2024.) more men’s ability to tolerate will be higher than women, at the same time, due to the emergence of the “paradox of rights” (Olle Folke, 2020.), deeper tell us the social phenomenon of democratic inequity, women’s identity with the development of the Internet era began to develop. The identity of women has begun to change with the development of the Internet age, and more and more women are involved in political work, high knowledge of the industry, especially when faced with the workplace, men’s status is higher than that of women, but this does not mean that women’s legal rights and actions to protect their own safety are denied.

A study shows that if this behavior is not changed in time, if the State does not put in place policies or if some of the “initiators” do not moderate their behavior, generations of girls will continue to miss out on their ambitions to be leaders and to have an impact on society, on work, on politics, on the community, and on family life, creating a “chilling effect”. “chilling effect.” (Thomson Reuters Foundation, 2019.)

A round table in April 2022 on the topic “What new imaginings of social media governance will suffice to eliminate the misogynistic illiberality of online communication?” invites female political representatives of different identities to discuss and borderline this issue. (IT For Change, 2020.) It is intended that this conference will help find fair solutions to hate speech in public spaces, assess various scenarios and issues in a range of contexts, and reweight governance differently based on the platform’s size and type. In essence, some of the victims have experienced complicated discrimination, use of disseminated misinformation, and scenarios that correspond to online misogynistic racist violence.

There are many more examples of this in our lives, such as “women facing redundancy because they are pregnant”, “female leaders being denied promotions and pay rises because their teams need men more”, “being gossiped about by leaders and coworkers at work because of the way they dress”, and “being criticized for being a bad influence on the workplace”. “Being teased by leaders and coworkers as gossip” …. Of course, it may have nothing to do with us, but we can assume that one day, when we have to face the “indiscriminate attack” thing, how will we feel? Most of our parents, under the influence of traditional concepts, would tell their daughters, “Don’t talk to strangers casually”, “Don’t dress indecently when you go out”, “Makeup is for seduction” and other prejudiced advice. “This biased advice only adds pressure and urgency to their daughters to become more rebellious, without really listening to what their daughters are trying to say. In life, when their daughters are subjected to verbal violence or sexual harassment, most families choose to tolerate and remain silent, resulting in their daughters developing “female submissive values”, which are taught in a subtle way, and then transferred to the workplace, where when they are faced with verbal insults and hateful insults on the internet, they will choose to Avoid talking about it, but the actual inner cracks will get bigger and bigger, possibly leading to depression and many other problems, becoming marginalized in the society thus losing their technical knowledge and career prospects. (WESNET.)From being submissive at a young age to being silent at work, what they do when they encounter a speech hate incident occurs creates a closed loop with their childhood upbringing and childhood experiences.

CONCLUSION

Online speech violence is not an aberration, but a symptom of Internet colonization.

How can we reduce online speech hate at its source? (IT For Change, 2023.) There are many online platforms that we are familiar with, but software that is radicalizing and opposed to women’s presence on public platforms is often ubiquitous. Reddit, for example, is a place where more people will start with “Being male…” or “not female, but ……” It’s an unfair state of affairs to think in terms of the fact that it’s often men who dominate the entire discourse. (Masanari, 2015)

When doing commercial audits, internet corporations will use a cross-cutting strategy that mixes AI and physical labor, but the outcomes are frequently subpar. Commercial reviewers think the platform is just disseminating the content, not hosting it, and are assigned to other businesses in a number of ways. They base their evaluations of the speech or article on a number of factors, some of which may be skewed by their own feelings, objective prejudices, and other factors.Though it is very conventional, AI’s role in speech control encompasses not just technological concerns but also social standards, cultural context, legal requirements, and regulations. (Roberts, Sarah T ,2019) AI is unable to address some toxic speech against women in multiple and complex contexts, which is a lack of vetting mechanism. It also provides gaps for online speech hatemongers and toxic spaces, and women increasingly need not only legal help, but more, how to minimize and control online slurs, which is not an individual matter, but includes those commercial reviewers, platform intermediaries, the state, and many other aspects. Problems are inevitable, but their mega-presence on platforms is a result of their culture, politics and design, and it is possible to circumvent them and minimize the damage through platform politics.

The Internet is not a haven for hate speech; in order to improve the situation and safeguard women’s rights online, we must enhance the relevant platform system and individual characteristics. Gender bias is not the only form of bias; everyone’s rights are equal, and improving the nation’s nationalism will help society advance.

References

Flew, Terry (2021) Hate Speech and Online Abuse. In Regulating Platforms. Cambridge: Polity, pp. 91-96.

Iacoviello, V., Valsecchi, G., Berent, J., Borinca, I., & Falomir-Pichastor, J. M. (2021). The impact of masculinity beliefs and political ideologies on men’s backlash against Non-Traditional men: The Moderating Role of Perceived Men’s Feminization. International Review of Social Psychology, 34(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.588

Weston-Scheuber, K. (2013). Gender and the prohibition of hate speech. QUT Law Review, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.5204/qutlr.v12i2.504

Violent and sexualised hate speech targeting women journalists approved for publication by social media platforms. (2023, December 7). Global Witness. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/violent-and-sexualised-hate-speech-targeting-women-approved-for-publication-by-social-media-platforms/

Carlson, B., & Frazer, R. (2021). Attending to Difference in Indigenous People’s Experiences of Cyberbullying: Toward a Research agenda. In Emerald Publishing Limited eBooks (pp. 145–163).https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-848-520211008

Unwomen.(2021).Eliminating online hate speech to secure women’s political participation.https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/04/eliminating-online-hate-speech-to-secure-women-s-political-participation

Savanta represents Amnesty International,.(2025). Toxic tech: New polling exposes widespread online misogyny driving Gen Z away from social media. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/toxic-tech-new-polling-exposes-widespread-online-misogyny-driving-gen-z-away-social

Kristina Van Sant, Rolf Fredheim, and Gundars Bergmanis-Korāts.(2021).ABUSE OF POWER: COORDINATED ONLINE HARASSMENT OF FINNISH GOVERNMENT MINISTERS.https://docslib.org/doc/12736849/abuse-of-power-coordinated-online-harassment-of-finnish-government-ministers

Leonie Cater.(2021).Finland’s women-led government targeted by online harassment.https://www.politico.eu/article/sanna-marin-finland-online-harassment-women-government-targeted/

Fitriani,Angela.(2024).Australia should lead efforts to address online gender-based violence.https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/australia-should-lead-efforts-to-address-online-gender-based-violence/

Florence E. Enock.(2024).Understanding gender differences in experiences and concerns surrounding online harms: A short report on a nationally representative survey of UK adults.https://hub.baai.ac.cn/paper/a17513cd-0a6a-4e90-b463-21a817226d7f

Olle Folke.(2020).Sexual Harassment of Women Leaders. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48563040?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1

Thomson Reuters Foundation.(2019).Tough at the top: Girls believe female leaders suffer widespread harassment, survey shows. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/06/04/business/tough-top-girls-believe-female-leaders-suffer-widespread-harassment-survey-shows/

IT For Change,(2020). Recognize, Resist, Remedy: Addressing Gender-Based Hate Speech in the Online Public Sphere.https://itforchange.net/online-gender-based-hate-speech-women-girls-recognise-resist-remedy

WESNET.Online Misogyny and Abuse. https://techsafety.org.au/resources/resources-women/online_misogyny/

IT For Change.(2023).Feminist Perspectives on Social Media Governance.https://itforchange.net/feminist-perspectives-on-social-media-governance-0.

Massanari, A. (2015). #Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures. New Media & Society, 19(3), 329–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815608807

Roberts, Sarah T. (2019) Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, pp. 33-72.