Gender misinformation is a type of misogynistic violence against women that uses false or misleading narratives based on sex and gender to prevent women from participating in the public sphere, silencing their voices
and neutralizing their initiatives. Often, these gender misinformation narratives are coordinated to undermine advances in the debate on gender equality, sexual and reproductive rights, as well as the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ populations. The objective of this line of research is to investigate the phenomenon of gender misinformation on social networks to obtain a systemic and multiplatform view of narrative disputes, manipulation strategies and hate speech against women.
Analysis of the online debate reveals misogynistic, racist, homophobic attacks, insults and other insults against women, especially those in the political world. Another relevant topic is women's sexual and reproductive rights, as there is an express coordinated disinformation campaign on the subject. Such narratives often appeal to moral panic and contribute to rights violations and political setbacks in the fight against gender oppression.
​Gender disinformation campaigns are mobilized internationally by conservatives and are often adapted to the Brazilian scenario. Studies in this line of research point to a worsening in political polarization on gender issues: On the one hand, ultraconservatives gain strength on social media, on the other, the feminist field seeks to renew communication strategies to influence public opinion in favor of women's dignity.
Studies in Progress
Misinformation and abortion: dispute over narratives about sexual and reproductive rights
With the intensification of the online debate on the regulation of abortion, this project seeks to identify the main disseminators of misinformation, the most active narratives and profiles against sexual and reproductive rights, and the counter-narratives in defense of women's rights.
Online hate speech: development and application of an algorithm to identify attacks against women parliamentarians
The project analyzes the spread of hate speech against female parliamentarians with different ideological positions. Content analysis based on supervised machine learning reveals misogynistic, racist attacks, generic insults and other insults against women in political circles.