Misogynistic abuse is at the heart of our post-truth world, one that is opposed to facts, evidence, and reality, and is fuelled by a sense of victimhood. Will we do something about it? asks Neal Curtis.
We cannot know how much the abuse - a great deal of it misogynistic - directed at Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern contributed to her sudden resignation. We will not know unless we ask her but asking her would not be appropriate.
After all, why should we be asking her to give an account of her abusers’ actions? That said, I do hope that at some point she is prepared to disclose it because sadly, yet again, we are talking about a climate that is unsafe for women.
Without her disclosure, what do we know? The everyday sexism started on day one with TV3 host Mark Richardson setting the agenda with his demand that she disclosed her plans for having babies.
It then continued with the decision among the political right to belittle and infantilise her by calling her ‘Cindy’. We then had the perfect example of male privilege when David Seymour - who is younger and with less parliamentary experience - tweeted that she was “inexperienced”.
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We also know that she was subject to explicit misogyny on social media where trolls resorted to a range of gendered insults, advocated violence and even wanted to see her dead. This really came to a head with the anti-mandate protests, but it has a much earlier provenance, rooted in the biases of an age-old patriarchal culture.
There have been several academic reports looking at the online misogyny that increased globally during the pandemic and may be related to the frustrations and insecurities brought about by lockdowns and an increase in economic precarity.
However, it is also connected to a resurgence of far-right politics, primarily evident in the discourses and methods of the Alt-Right involving the rebranding of some very old chauvinism: including white supremacy, misogyny, and heteronormativity, openly presented as a newly styled fascism.
Will we devise educational campaigns for young men and boys to counter the daily drip feed of explicit misogyny they are exposed to from the likes of Andrew Tate?
When they are not attacking drag events, banning books, marching with tiki torches, committing mass murder in the name of the white race, or taking part in attempted coups, the lifeworld of the Alt-Right is online, where the tactic of mobbing is used to attack and silence a range of people, predominantly women and especially women of colour.
This is the heart of our post-truth world, one that is opposed to facts, evidence, and reality, and is fuelled by a sense of victimhood, most noticeably in the related Incel movement that blames women for men being unable to find a sexual partner.
It feeds off and promotes conspiracy theories, fake news, and alternative facts; that world on the other side of the looking glass that Trump adviser Kelly-Anne Conway evoked to claim more people were at Trump’s inauguration than Obama’s.
In terms of the PM’s resignation, this is highly relevant because this culture has not simply stayed online but has very much materialised in Aotearoa in real life, as the Alt-Right world of conspiracy theories and fantasy, and its attendant advocacy of violence, has landed on these shores. The anti-mandate protests were very much a product of the raw ingredients imported from the US.
At this moment the threats against Ardern increased and the misogyny was ramped up, so who would expect a woman to feel safe having to very soon spend a great deal of time exposed to crowds that may or may not contain someone wishing to cause her serious harm.
Yes, this has always been a potential problem for anyone in the public eye, but when you are exposed to the ever-escalating vitriol daily via the phone in your pocket or purse, it’s something different.
It is also different for a woman because we know that women continue to be subject to far more physical and sexual violence than men. Women constantly tell us about this, but the overall response is they’re likely exaggerating and taking it too far.
So, here’s another opportunity to do something about it, but will we? Will we devise educational campaigns for young men and boys to counter the daily drip feed of explicit misogyny they are exposed to from the likes of Andrew Tate? (recently arrested in relation to sex trafficking in Romania only days after Elon Musk gave him his Twitter account back).
Will we do anything about the social media platforms that amplify online abuse and hate by design? Social media algorithms search out what gets ‘engagement’ and boost it, and we know scandalous or outrageous stories circulate the fastest and widest. Ironically, the Prime Minister had tried to do something about this very issue in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack but there is such little political or corporate will.
Likewise, our traditional media have been infected by this philosophy, and commercial journalism has seen a significant increase in the publication of click bait, designed to attract audiences, and generate ‘click signals’ that they can turn into profit via advertising revenue.
However what chance do we have when we are asked to make a comment for the media and the host starts by pointing out that John Key also received abuse?
And when the bar for analysis is set so low and you are only given a minute or two to try to elevate it to the seriousness it deserves, I really worry. Ultimately, along with the Ardern's stated reasons for suddenly resigning we would be irresponsible to say that the misogynistic abuse she received was not a factor.
And there is another huge implication here in that the freedom people have to say whatever they will has likely contributed to the loss of a very talented politician.
In the age of online rage, does this then mean speech has the potential to become a new form of censorship? How many young women will look at this outcome and choose not to pursue a path in public life? If we don’t ask these questions, we will fail them yet again.
