GENDER AND ONLINE POLITICS: POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND GENDERED DISINFORMATION PRACTICES

Abstract

This article observes online gender-based violence (OGBV) as a political phenomenon based on empirical research with social media data and a literature review to understand the main discursive strategies that constitute OGBV in Brazil. It aims to contribute methodologically to the analysis of OGBV, with an intersectional perspective, by identifying practices that constitute the "gender informational disorder" phenomenon. To this end, it uses secondary data from social media interactions, drawn from reports produced within the scope of the “Media and Democracy” project at FGV Rio Law, produced by the authors of this article. The article concludes that there are four discursive patterns used to target women in politics, which reflect the structural discriminations in society: (i) gendered disinformation; (ii) fetishization; (iii) inferiority; and (iv) dehumanization strategies.