[Air-L] CFP - Misogynist hate speech: portrayals, impacts and interventions

[Inês Amaral]

*Call ex æquo: Misogynist hate speech: portrayals, impacts and
interventions*
https://apem-estudos.org

Despite growing concerns about the increasing prevalence of misogynistic or
sexist hate speech on different popular digital platforms (e.g. Ging and
Siapera 2018, 2019; Vickery and Everbach 2018), research in this field is
relatively recent and has mainly generated scattered evidence of its
occurrence, its individual impacts and cultural and democratic
consequences. We know that misogynistic hatred often intersects with other
expressions of intolerance and other types of abuse perpetrated using
technology, including harassment, stalking, threats and verbal offences,
which disproportionately affect women (Duggan 2014; FRA 2014; EIGE 2017;
Vogels 2021), but an understanding of how hatred is expressed and perceived
is still limited.
The attention directed at ways to combat hate online is even more recent.
Feminist and gender studies suggest that sociocultural and technological
domains are mutually constitutive and that technologically mediated
practices, therefore, reproduce crystallised hierarchies and privileges but
are also driving springs for new phenomena, such as post-feminism,
antifeminism, men's movements or toxic masculinities. However, how
prominent social actors operationalise this knowledge to think up
appropriate responses is a question that, with some exceptions (e.g. Free
et al. 2017; Henry, Flynn and Powell 2018), has yet to be studied.
Scientific work in this field has also yet to provide consensual elements
to support a widely accepted definition of the problem in the
legal-political sphere. The term hate speech has been used interchangeably
to refer to various types of harmful speech, including hate and its
incitement, abusive and defamatory content based on characteristics of
belonging to a specific social group, including extreme forms of
discrimination and prejudice (Siegle 2020).
Added to the complexity of creating a consensual definitional framework is
the fragile balance in recognising different social groups as vulnerable to
hatred. Unlike racist hate speech, which is always seen as contrary to
European and international human rights standards, sexist hate speech is
often not looked at from this perspective, a situation that some
international instruments have sought to counteract (e.g. Recommendation
CM/Rec(2019)1) by encouraging national States to ensure the same yardstick
for dealing with racist and sexist speech, in particular concerning law
enforcement intervention.
This thematic issue, under the theme "Misogynist hate speech: portraits,
impacts and interventions", aims to provide a space to deepen the knowledge
of how the sexist hate speech that circulates in the digital environment is
expressed, perceived and confronted. We are particularly interested in
interdisciplinary research conducted from feminist approaches focused on
studies that produce empirical evidence referable to different
international contexts. We also welcome studies that critically reflect on
the theoretical, methodological and political challenges that hate speech
poses to feminisms.
We, therefore, call for contributions that preferably focus on the
following themes:
- Expressions of sexist hate on digital platforms;
- Antifeminism, toxic masculinities and the normalisation of hate;
- Extremist movements and misogynist hatred;
- Hate speech and intersectionality;
- Perceptions of victims/survivors, witnesses and stakeholders of sexist
hatred;
- Feminist activism and online misogyny;
- Public policies to prevent and combat sexist hate online;
- Other interventions targeting hate speech;
- Contexts of sexist hate production;
- Networked misogyny during and after the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Hate speech and epistemological and methodological challenges.



*IMPORTANT DATES*Submission deadline: May 29, 2023
Notification of acceptance decisions: July 30, 2023
Deadline for submission of the revised version by the authors: September
30, 2023
Publication date: December 2023

*SUBMISSIONS*: https://apem-estudos.org/ojs

This list is not intended to be exhaustive. Other proposals that fit the
theme of the issue are encouraged. Texts will be accepted in Portuguese,
English, Spanish and French.

Editors: Rita Basílio de Simões, Universidade de Coimbra, Faculdade de
Letras/ICNova Instituto de Comunicação da Nova, Portugal
Inês Amaral, Universidade de Coimbra, Faculdade de Letras/Centro de Estudos
de Comunicação e Sociedade, Portugal
Sonia Núñez Puente, Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación, Universidad
Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, España

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Inês Amaral
Professora Associada | Associate Professor
Diretora do 1.º Ciclo de Estudos em Jornalismo e Comunicação |
Director of the Undergraduate Program Studies in Journalism and
Communication

Universidade de Coimbra • Faculdade de Letras | University of Coimbra •
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Largo da Porta Férrea | 3004-530 • Coimbra • Portugal
Tel. | Phone: +351 239 410 090
E-mail: ines.amaral at uc.pt
www.uc.pt | www.uc.pt/fluc