Navigating Online Misogyny: Strategies, Methods, and Debates in Digital Feminism

Abstract:The far right movements that have increasingly gained traction in the U.S. and around the world are connected to violent, white supremacist, misogynist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic communities on the internet. In the U.S., the hate that was on full display during the election and administration of the 45th president, culminating in the Capitol Riot (January 6, 2021) are, in part, results of marginalized movements mobilizing online and entering the mainstream. The books herein reviewed contribute understandings of how misogyny operates online. This is essential knowledge for activists who must anticipate anti-feminist backlash to be able to deal with it. Writings about mediated misogyny and misogynoir recognize the need to be on the internet (as a place where policy and culture are shaped) at the same time as they underscore the danger of being a feminist there. The internet is not self-contained: misogyny on and offline are mutually reinforcing and have real, damaging effects on the women who are targets. Misogynist violence is rife with racism, classism, heterosexism, transphobia and other interconnected forms of oppression. Women, feminists, and gender non-conforming folks are especially targeted in traditionally male dominated areas like sports, technology, and religion. While there is still too little recourse for those being gendertrolled, each monograph challenges online misogyny through their varying calls to action directed to different audiences.