Networked misogyny beyond the digital: the violent devaluation of women journalists’ labor and bodies in Turkey’s masculine authoritarian regime

Abstract

ABSTRACT Following the conservative Turkish government’s political-economic capture of the news media, educated and pro-feminist women journalists have migrated online. Despite having more publicity across platforms, they face immediate prosecution based on the tweet of an anonymous troll, an informant citizen or a government official. While this is a common case of networked misogyny, inspired by Liz Kelly’s concept of the continuum of sexual violence, we argue that networked misogyny against women journalists is not simply technological but rather both interconnected across different spaces (online manosphere, masculine newsrooms, and authoritarian state) and intersectional feeding from nationalism, class, and anti-Western sentiments. This intersectionality renders networked misogyny against Turkey’s journalists different from liberal contexts because it operates not through illegality but suspicion (of terrorism, treason). Our focus on interconnections and intersectionality allows for theorizing networked misogyny beyond the digital, genders current perspectives on authoritarianism and reframes networked misogyny as a violent war targeting women’s intellectual labor and public visibility, both significant threats to authoritarian regimes across the globe. The interconnected and intersectional stories of networked misogyny from Turkey point to how fighting against this form of violence is also a fight against the post-truth regimes of authoritarianism and fight for democracy.