The discursive function of gendered online hate speech in Kosovo

A new research project is tracking how sexist hate speech functions in Kosovo's online public sphere. Global Voices reports that over one month during this year's local election campaign, researchers analyzed six hundred twenty-five comments across sixty-seven posts on twenty-two major Kosovo-based Facebook and YouTube pages. Two-thirds of the sexist comments aimed to delegitimize women in politics, media, or public life, often through animal metaphors, sexualized insults, or victim-blaming language directed even at reported victims of violence or missing women. Researchers found only thirty-two comments explicitly pushed back against this sexism, and noted that many of the monitored pages exercised little to no moderation over the abusive content.

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