Single ladies and freedom of speech: gendered explanations for, and effects of, violence in politics

Abstract

Violence towards elected representatives violates the personal integrity and freedom of representation of the municipal officeholders, thus potentially harming democracy at large. An original survey of Danish municipal council members’ experience of psychological, sexual and physical violence shows that two thirds have experienced at least one of the five types of psychological violence enquired about, while a third have experienced sexual and physical violence, respectively. More violence is experienced by women, the younger, those living on their own and those with larger TV exposure and social media visibility. However, except for sexual violence and being single, gender does not interact with these variables. Turning to the effect of violence, whether representatives feel that they have freedom of speech is negatively correlated with their experience of psychological and sexual violence. In the case of sexual violence, the effect is gendered. In sum, violence experience is skewed and may harm both descriptive and substantive representation.