Paper short abstract:

Online misogyny against local politicians in Germany reveals the gendered practices of politics. Investigating self-censorship, I explore its impact on women's political paths and understanding how violence as inherent in politics sustains structural inequalities, I stress the need to address this.

Paper long abstract:

My research centers on the ethnographic exploration of online misogyny directed at local women politicians in Germany. Adopting a feminist perspective, I conceptualize politics as a profoundly gendered institution, wherein online misogyny is digitally enacted yet deeply entrenched in the gendered fabric of the political and societal landscape (Esposito 2023).

In this context, (online) violence is viewed as an inherent aspect of political engagement, serving as a structural component that upholds the prevailing political order and reproduces structural inequality (Krook and Restrepo Sanin 2019). Consequently, women in politics navigate a precarious space, operating within a male-dominated, potentially hostile environment with insufficient support structures and heightened exposure to violence (Butler 2009).

While (online) gender-based violence against women in politics has been extensively researched, my specific focus is on women politicians engaged at the local level in urban spaces (city councils, city-level migration councils). I seek to understand why locally active women encounter increased vulnerability to online harassment.

My research involves exploring the experiences of locally active politicians with online misogyny and its repercussions on their behavior. I investigate their coping strategies and everyday practices in response to cyber violence, with a specific emphasis on the deployment of various forms of self-censorship as both a precautionary measure and a consequence of online hate experiences. Self-censorship has significant implications, compromising the women's political engagement and career trajectories early on, acting as a "gate-keeping practice" that perpetuates the status quo of male-dominated political environments in urban spaces (Esposito 2023:463).