“She Looks Like She’d Be a Filthy Pig in Bed”: Online Misogyny and Denigration of Women Politicians

Abstract

This article summarizes the main results of a study about the disparagement of women politicians in Spain. The thematic analysis of 1,245 comments spontaneously posted on the Burbuja.info forum reveals that the commenters feel entitled to humiliate and disparage the eight female politicians embattled by the hate speech posts. While the main targets of this form of harassment have been women representatives of left-wing parties, the focus of the disparaging attacks has been the female body. This explains why those who were overweight were the most vilified, even during periods when they had a lower profile in the media.