How female politicians deal with hate speech

DW (English)

Online violence against female politicians is increasing globally. Gloria Orwoba from Kenya, Myriam Bregman from Argentina and Supriya Shrinate from India know this all too well. But they refuse to back down.

Transcript

00:00Gloria Awoba from Kenya,

00:02Supriya Srinath from India,

00:04and Miriam Bregman from Argentina.

00:07The three politicians have all experienced hate speech on social media

00:10and know just how personal it can get.

00:13You should rape your son.

00:15You should kidnap your son and, you know, rape him,

00:17chop him off in bits and pieces.

00:20Those really affect me.

00:22Gloria Awoba is a senator in the Kenyan parliament.

00:25She's faced a lot of hate online,

00:27especially during her recent pregnancy.

00:42It's an experience Supriya Srinath knows all too well.

00:46She's the spokesperson for India's largest opposition party.

00:49Hate speech, particularly targeting women,

00:52is never hate speech.

00:54It's always hate mixed with sexual violence.

00:57A woman is never trolled for her ideology, mostly.

00:59The first few things that the troll writes is,

01:02they will body shame you,

01:03they will talk about, you know,

01:06they will talk about physical, sexual violence against you,

01:09they will go after your children.

01:12For Supriya Srinath,

01:13online trolling targeting women reflects how they are treated in society.

01:18Hate speech aims to undermine women in leadership roles.

01:21The goal is to constantly degrade you,

01:23to make you feel terrible so that you stop expressing your opinions.

01:26They are especially bothered by women's opinions.

01:30Miriam Bregman is a prominent left-wing political figure in Argentina.

01:33A few years ago, her cell number was leaked in far-right online groups.

01:38She soon began receiving threats.

01:41For Miriam Bregman, the fight against hate speech

01:44isn't just about surviving it.

01:45It's about changing the way we think about hate speech.

01:48Gloria Owobo urges women and girls to stand their ground.

01:51She wants to promote a cultural shift and silence offenders.

02:19Supriya Srinath takes all the hate and threats

02:22and uses them to fuel her fight.

02:26Being in public life, you've got to have a tough skin.

02:29And I have a very, very tough skin.

02:31I have a very tough mental makeup.

02:33None of this dissuades me.

02:36Because I am not going to be threatened

02:38and I care two hoots about what an anonymous bot has to say about me.

02:43An anonymous person with 20 followers

02:46will say something sexually apprehensible against me

02:49doesn't threaten me.

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