Unpacking Misogynoir #2: It’s Giving Digital Violence

previously published in 2022 via medium

Moya Bailey, whom we have discussed in great length in previous blogs, makes it very clear in their book Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance that misogynoir shows up in digital culture. This blog post will talk about digital violence, my research, and types of digital violence to look out for online that can be misogynoiristic in nature.

In my previous research, I define digital violence as violence that happens in digital spaces such as but not limited to social media platforms and forums (Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, Reddit, etc.). Digital Violence can show up in so many ways and many may not even realize they are perpetuating it or victims of it until it is too late. For the last 7 years, I have been researching digital violence on Twitter and how it impacts Black women in particular. I have an interest in how Black women are treated online and how that can dictate some of their experiences. I am also interested in how they clap back when people are spewing misogynoiristic bullshit their way. From 2015–2017 I looked at how actress and comedian Leslie Jones was treated online after the release of the reboot of the movie Ghostbusters. I conducted a focus group to see how Black women were dealing with digital violence and their thoughts on Twitter’s harassment policies at the time. A few things that I learned during that research project were the following:

1. Black women witness and experience violence online at higher rates than other groups but there is not a lot of research showing this.

2. Black women have to be creative when creating harm reduction in these online spaces.

3. Twitter’s safety guidelines and policies (back in 2017) did not work as swiftly as one would have liked. This means that it was easy for people to be harassed for longer periods of time before a trolls/abuser’s account was suspended (IF it even got suspended).

Some of the themes that came up via my focus group were the following:

Theme 1: Isolation due to jealousy, which leads to a lack of consequences

Theme 2: Black women experience harassment/abuse online neglecting that they are real humans with emotions and feelings.

Theme 3:Twitter policies seem to be helpful on paper but lack the follow-up of helpfulness online.

Theme 4: Accountability and reform.

Out of all my participants, these themes came up repeatedly. You can read more on this study here.

Because of this previous study I wanted to continue to look deeply at the relationship that Black women and non-binary femmes have with Twitter and how they protect themselves online. I wanted to choose another celebrity whom I have seen dealing with digital violence, so I decided to choose Megan Thee Stallion. Just a brief rundown — she was shot allegedly by musical artist Tory Lanez in the summer of 2020 and there were a lot of misogynoiristic tweets that popped up on the timeline. This encouraged me to look at the discourse around her incident and also at how she handled the overwhelming amount of hatred she was experiencing. In future research, I will use both her experience and interviews with Black women and non-binary femmes to investigate the means they use to protect themselves online and how they deal with digital violence.

I want to take some time to discuss some different types of digital violence that happen based on my observations as an avid Twitter user and a Black woman. Some of these things are well-known acts of violence and some are often overlooked because they are happening in online spaces. Many of these terms were created based on my observations and experiences. This is not an exhaustive list and I am sure there are more that I may have missed.

• Doxxing — the release of someone’s personal information (address, job, school, name, etc) without their permission in an attempt to have people find them and possibly harm them.

• Revenge porn- releasing nude photos or sexual videos of someone online without their permission.

• Intimate Partner Violence — this is something I observed on Twitter but more frequently on Tiktok or Youtube. This can look like mental, emotional, financial, or physical abuse being displayed online. An example of this could be someone berating their partner online in a video and posting it for everyone to see. It can also look like controlling what your partner posts, who they follow, and what social media platforms they are “allowed” to use.

• Embarrassing Partner Online — I coined this form of violence based on couples’ pranks that are done online that embarrass the partner or put them in dangerous situations.

• Targeted Harassment — harassing someone directly online. This can look like tweeting them disparaging things and having others join you to essentially harass and bully them.

• Sexual Harassment/Sexual Violence — this is similar to targeted harassment but it is sexually charged. This can look like making sexual remarks and comments about someone without their consent. Creating deepfake or AI porn videos using their likeness. (You can read more about the deepfake porn here) Sexual violence online can also look like unsolicited nudes and videos of sexual acts being sent online.

• Sexual and Violent Memes — These are essentially the memefication of extremely sexual and/or violent things. They can use actual photos of real people or photos/cartoons of fictional characters.

All of these examples are things that I have observed. Some of these terms I have created to categorize these acts of digital violence. In my next blog post, I will be telling my story of my own experience with digital violence and how it implored me to begin my research on misogynoir online. Have you seen any of these examples on your timeline? Sound off in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts and examples.