Analyzing Hate Speech Against Women on Instagram

Abstract

Abstract The popularization of digital technologies, such as social media, has driven remarkable changes in the way citizens participate in public life. On the one hand, they gave power to social actors, who began to act in a new media environment, with a considerable impact on the political and economic spheres. On the other hand, they laid the material foundations for the dissemination of hate speech against vulnerable groups and minorities. The present investigation has as its main objective to analyze the misogynistic hate narratives that are uttered in social media. For this purpose, a netnographic study was carried out, of the qualitative type, organized in three sequential moments: extraction, exploration/treatment, and content analysis of the data from the platform of the social network Instagram. The data highlighted from 74 profiles aligned with hate speech show, essentially, the presence of 40 publications, largely linked to extreme right-wing cultures with discursive and imagery manifestations of a misogynistic nature, highlighting the use of irony and the ridicule of women. The most offensive dimension of hate speech was measured in the comments of the followers of these publications, present in the form of insult and direct offense, confirming that the digital environment has aggravated hostility and online harassment against women.