Attacks on women gain new formats in the online environment

“They are easy, because they are poor.” “The refugee line, brother […] só Deusa, so, só Deusa.” “If you take the line at the best nightclub in Brazil, the best, at the best time of year, you won’t get to the feet of the refugee line here.”

These and other abject phrases uttered by a state deputy from São Paulo have been extensively publicized in recent days. The leak of the audio in which he misogynically referred to Ukrainian women shocked lawmakers and voters, causing great repercussion in the press and on social media.

It is difficult to find adjectives to classify this type of comment about women in any context, but the fact that we are in the midst of a war broadcast in real time, with daily images of bombings and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homes, makes the even more sordid statement.

However, it is also necessary to state the obvious: the deputy’s statement, as repugnant as it may be, is not something isolated. He’s not the only man who thinks so. The clearest example of this is the massive increase in searches on Google and on pornographic sites such as PornHub for terms such as “Ukrainian women”, “Ukrainian girls” and “refugee porn”.

The objectification and dehumanization of women are structuring pillars of the society in which we live. If practically every woman has been harassed on the street, at school, at home or at work, why would this be any different in the online environment? On the contrary: distance and anonymity precisely give more freedom for men to offend and violate, with texts, audios and videos, known and unknown women.

It is a fact that the internet has amplified and diversified misogyny. Harassment of artificial intelligence characters is a good example of how this happens even in contact with women who, in practice, do not exist.

For humans, the possibilities of aggression are countless. Among the most common are the leaking of intimate images, a practice known as revenge pornography, and the deepfakes that destroy reputations and undermine the mental health of women around the world.

Online sexual abuse is also a systemic problem and there is no shortage of data to support this scenario. The most recent are from a survey by the Ipsos Institute in 31 countries and show that, in Brazil, 46% of men think that women exaggerate when they claim to be victims of harassment on social networks. At the same time, 58% of Brazilians think that men are responsible for this behavior.

When we look at women who work in an exposed way in the media, the situation is also critical. Outside, the term “presstitute” is widely used in misogynistic attacks on media professionals. Around here, according to data from the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) and UNESCO, a journalist is assaulted every three days, which totals 119 assaults in 2021. Of this number, which should be higher due to underreporting, 38% were considered gender attacks.

It is clear that there is a chronic problem of combating speeches with gender and sexual orientation prejudice on digital platforms. In the opinion of the organization Ultra Violet, a feminist collective based in the United States, all big techs fail to combat misogyny. In the Social Media Fails Women newsletter, published by the entity, the group classifies initiatives to ban content and welcome victims as timid.

But it is also necessary to understand that this is a social problem that is reflected in technologies. They are men who send audio, assemble images, access and disseminate pornography, individually and collectively degrading the image of women.

Comments in WhatsApp groups are nothing more than sexist bar conversations taken to the virtual environment, where they have an almost infinite potential for reach. The authors are men of flesh and blood responsible for their speeches and postures.

Cybersexism is sexism and has destructive potential. It’s no use saying you’re shocked by the misogynist speech of a deputy – action is needed. Gender violence is in the discourse, in sexist memes, cursing journalists, leaked and shared nudes of known and unknown people and in so many other formats that are impossible to measure.

In order for a woman’s place to be wherever she wants, as a phrase repeatedly repeated by feminist collectives, campaigns and organizations says, it is necessary to make these places receptive, respectful and empathetic to them. And, if we live in a connected world, social networks are no exception.