“While it’s true that any woman in the spotlight is a mark for online hate, nobody is more public than politicians.”
For Black, Indigenous and other racialized women, that abuse will often hone in on race in addition to their gender. “If you’re a woman…experiencing negativity on social media, that negativity by far and away targets your social identity, in a way that’s not the case for white men,” says Erin Tolley, Canada Research Chair in Gender, Race, and Inclusive Politics and Associate Professor at Carleton University. “It’s not just general negativity about not liking their political position, it’s not liking them because they are women or because they are racialized women.”