Misogyny is increasingly recognised as a significant political phenomenon, yet research on it remains divided across scholarship on gender, political violence, digital politics, extremism, democratic governance and public policy. This panel brings these conversations together by examining how misogyny is produced, circulated, normalised and contested across digital, institutional and societal spaces.
Digital platforms have transformed the speed, reach and political influence of gendered narratives. Online communities, political actors and algorithmically amplified content can legitimise hostility towards women, reinforce exclusionary ideologies and contribute to harassment, intimidation and political violence. However, digital circulation alone does not explain when misogynistic discourse becomes politically consequential. Greater attention is needed to the institutions, narratives and permission structures through which hostility is translated into exclusion, coercion, policy failure or violence.
The panel invites theoretical, empirical and comparative papers examining these processes across diverse political and regional contexts. Contributions may address digital misogyny, gendered radicalisation, online extremism, populism, democratic backsliding, gendered political violence, AI and algorithmic governance, political communication, legal and policy responses, institutional failure or resilience, social movements and intersectional forms of exclusion. Comparative work and research grounded in or engaging with perspectives from the Global South are particularly encouraged.
The panel welcomes qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods and innovative methodological approaches, as well as interdisciplinary dialogue across political science, international relations, public policy, gender studies, media and communication, sociology and security studies.
By bringing together scholars working across these fields, the panel seeks to clarify how misogyny operates as a political process, identify the conditions under which narratives become politically and institutionally consequential, and assess how states, civil society and technology companies respond. It aims to develop a more integrated research agenda on the relationship between digital narratives, institutional permission structures and gendered political harm.