Where does misogyny come from?

Where does misogyny come from?

Insults, humiliation, threats - they are particularly often directed at women on social media. It is mostly men who post, but where does the misogyny that is unleashed here come from?

For female politicians such as Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann or Sawsan Chebli, it is part of their everyday life. They are insulted, threatened and humiliated. The unfiltered hatred is particularly directed at the fact that they are women. In the current Stern TV special #WHY, Sophia Maier addresses the topic: "'I'll kill you, bitch!' - Where does hatred of women come from?" RTL is showing the program today at 10.35 pm.

Strack-Zimmermann and Chebli will also have their say. To what extent do female politicians experience misogyny? 42 female politicians from all parties responded to a corresponding question to all women in the German Bundestag. Only the AfD did not respond.

85% of all participants perceive the atmosphere in the Bundestag as misogynistic and blame offensive insults for this. Many feel reduced to their appearance and are sexist insulted. They are denied competence simply because they are women. One female politician even writes that she is afraid in the corridors at night because of the misogynistic atmosphere in the Bundestag.

Targeted humiliation

In a study by the non-governmental organization Internews, the researchers found that attacks on male politicians are usually aimed at discrediting their expertise. In the case of female politicians, however, online harassment "tends to focus on their appearance, their sexuality and questioning their moral character". Furthermore, hatred towards women in politics "often includes threats of sexual violence and degrading or sexualized images".

Hate speech and misogyny are particularly destructive online. In a recent Forsa survey commissioned by the NRW Media Authority, 75 percent of women surveyed stated that they themselves had been affected by hate speech or hate comments on the internet. FDP politician Strack-Zimmermann has been a member of the Bundestag since 2017 and Chair of the Defense Committee since 2021. She receives death threats. Someone wrote to her: "I hope someone shoots you soon so that we can get rid of you!!! You ridiculous old frigate!!!" She reports every single threat to the police and then tries to tick them off.

Nevertheless, these attacks do not leave her unscathed, as she says. She realizes that she now behaves differently in public, says Strack-Zimmermann. "I travel by train a lot, and when a train arrives, I never stand at the edge of the track. I always have a Coke machine or a wall behind me, because I always think to myself, maybe there's some weirdo behind me." Basically, she had disappeared from the public eye and was no longer registered anywhere. This was her gradual reaction to the increasing threats.

Often an ordinary consumer

Rape fantasies and death threats are openly shared in many forums, but also on social media. The targets are often women who are loud, committed and prominent. The senders are mostly men. Strack-Zimmermann suspects that average citizens and misogynists roughly balance each other out among the writers. "Of course, there are some completely crazy jerks who probably have a creepy private life. But there are also, and this is actually much more frightening, people who appear to be ordinary people."

For her, hatred has long since become part of her everyday life. As is the case with former politician Chebli: after receiving several death threats during public appearances, she now has to be accompanied by the LKA. Chebli was physically attacked in broad daylight in Berlin. A man had pushed her and told her to get the fuck out of Germany. "That was the moment when online hatred spilled over into real life, real life, online hatred turned into violence, and that had a very strong impact on me because I never know if it will happen again, maybe next time it will be different and more brutal."

This assessment confirms a study by the Hateaid association, according to which digital media is the perfect place to radicalize and incite people to commit violence. Flooding platforms with hate messages, fake news and conspiracy myths is now a terrorist strategy that reaches a large audience. This makes it possible to motivate individuals to commit acts of terrorism without any specific incitement. "For extremist groups, this means that they can outsource the execution of violence to 'lone wolves' without having to take responsibility for it."

Author Tobias Ginsburg went undercover into the world of radical anti-feminists - and came across a globally active network of right-wing men's groups. He says: "Misogyny is a problem for society as a whole. It's just everywhere." We shouldn't pretend "that these are some weirdos on the fringes of society". Rather, this kind of thinking can now be found at the dentist, the neighbor and the primary school teacher. "The ideas are practically everywhere."

Chebli is already seeing the effects of the constant hate messages. "More and more female politicians are coming up to me and saying that they no longer comment on certain topics," says the SPD politician. "They are holding back. They don't dare." She is also increasingly noticing moments of exhaustion and resignation in herself. "But on the other hand, I'm also a fighter. I think to myself, you haven't come all this way just so that someone can now manage to keep you silent and simply not be there anymore."

1. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a prominent female politician in the German Bundestag and Chair of the Defense Committee, has faced severe hate comments and even death threats due to her public role. One message read, "I hope someone shoots you soon so that we can get rid of you!!! You ridiculous old frigate!!!"
2. The study by the non-governmental organization Internews revealed that online harassment towards female politicians often focuses on their appearance, sexuality, and questioning their moral character, alongside threats of sexual violence and degrading or sexualized images.
3. Sawsan Chebli, a female politician who has been the target of death threats during public appearances, now requires police protection, as she was physically attacked in broad daylight in Berlin and told, "Get the fuck out of Germany."

Source: www.ntv.de