Between September 2024 to December 2025, Horizon Digital Economy Research ran the Gendered exclusion and wellbeing online project (Gendernet). Research included a qualitative and quantitative survey, a workshop at the University of Nottingham’s Virtual and Immersive Production Studio and two workshops at the Cobot Maker Space.  

The project delivered the following key findings from a (self)censorship experience on social media and online games. Female participants described that when they expressed themselves online, they:

Often received diminishing comments or even physical and sexual threats. They also described that they were exposed to content that encourage of violation of women’s rights.

They witnessed female public figures receiving online violence and hate speech as part of their effort to participate in political and public life and male politicians openly making misogynistic comments.

They read media articles about acts of violence against women being accompanying by extreme misogynistic comments.

They were also receiving news from different parts of the world with womens’ rights being seriously violated and their attempts to react to such content received severe and strategic backlash.

Academic participants highlighted that they were advised by seniors’ academics to expose themselves online as little as possible to self-protect, and that they witnessed female colleagues being questioned for professional achievements.

All the above, led participants to feel that it is much safer to participate less energetically in social media and carefully balance the risks before any kind of self-expression (personal, political, professional).

Being exposed to this content affected their mental health and wellbeing and made them more fearful of the offline world:

·      “It is a long-term wearing down and cynicism. Each individual incident seems ridiculous, but the prevalence is what can make a person depressed or anxious”.

·   “It's definitely made it more 'acceptable' for those kinds of comments to be made and tolerated in real life. The inaction behind the screen also bleeds into life, as I am accustomed to just staying still and brushing it off.”

·       “I think it normalizes violence and contempt for women."”

Several participants noted that the semi‑structured interview made them more aware of how deeply online misogyny affects them. Many shared that they rarely have opportunities to pause and reflect on their social media habits, the volume of misogynistic content they encounter, or the impact it has on their wellbeing.

The Gendernet team considered it an ethical obligation to give a voice to the often-invisible women that are slowly, methodically, and strategically silenced.  To provide insights into these experiences and the impact they had on internet users - how they participate, their overall welfare and to provide an opportunity to self-reflect – a report, eight short videos and a longer overview video were created, in the hope of sparking public debate and an opportunity to reflect:

     Can we identify and critically process sexist and misogynistic content before scrolling to another?

Are we still surprised and upset by these expressions, or have we slowly normalised these speech and behaviours as part of internet “toxic” speech?

How much do we control the recommender systems? Are we able to exclude sexist or misogynistic content?

How much and how deeply does online misogyny affect how we conceive ourselves, our relationships with others, gender equality issues and the world and society around us?

In interview and online surveys, participants were asked to share their opinions on what these videos should include.

Participants proposed to use real-life examples to promote engagement and to include how people are impacted by that content that some commenters perceive as “jokes”. The overall feel should be empowering, visually striking, and action-oriented, not just pointing out the problem, but showing that viewers can be part of the solution. Messages like:

“Words online can hurt offline. Let’s stop normalizing sexism.”

“Next time you see sexism online, what will you do?”

and positive call-to-action:

“Report it. Call it out. Support each other.”   

They warned about the potential backlash.  As one of our online survey participants said:

“I don't want to see these actions in social media because they will spread out quickly and  cause serious effect on those targets”. 

“I think anything that you post is going to be mercilessly attacked by people who hate women and so I think anything that you do needs to make them afraid to comment”.

Their concern once more reflects the chilling effect of online misogyny but also a difficult reality. Comment sections in social media posts have become a common place to spread misogynistic opinions.

The project produced a number of resources which can be accessed via below:

Report:‘The impact of online misogyny and sexism on participation and wellbeing’ 

Full length video

8 short videos – Reflect on the impact of online misogyny – accessed via the Responsible Digital Futures (RDF) Instagram account @responsible_digital_futures:

https://youtube.com/shorts/PzQSozAh-i0?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/K3E7swgrVjQ?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/In9mSuB9BhU?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/ckZVOb6QTBU?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZhAk7rfPe8Y?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/AZHyiUe_h9o?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/FJ7URdbALpA?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/sQgrIPVjx54?feature=share

If you disseminate any of these outputs, please take a moment and decide if you prefer to deactivate the comment sector or not, based on your previous experiences with your network and your personal triggers.

These outputs were not designed to provide an additional platform to spread online misogyny.

If you decide to comment on these videos, please know that the Gendernet team might use these them (adequately pseudonymised) within academic papers that are currently being prepared.