Young Women, Social Media and Antigypsyism in Spain: An Experience of an Online Workshop with Roma Girls and Women

Abstract

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are currently sites where right-wing (political) groups in Spain find easy ways to spread organised and random hate speech towards minority groups, among which the Roma community. However, members of these groups, especially the younger generations, are rapidly learning how to protect themselves from racist and sexist online attacks, raise their voices and make their realities more visible, creating counter-narratives against hate speech and making the internet a safer space for themselves. This article presents the results of an action-research experience with young Roma women in Spain. Fifteen participants between 15 and 30 years old gathered for six online sessions during the Covid-19 pandemic, exchanging ideas and designing strategies to counter Antigypsyism online. The internet was not only the focus of the workshop, but also the main tool to carry it out. The project was informed by intersectional feminist thought, its main aim being to enable Romani women to deal with sexism and racism as a double axis of discrimination and online harrassment in Spain. In this article we will explain the methodology that was used and the topics, themes and insights that came up during the sessions, followed by some reflections on the process of designing and developing the workshop based on the theoretical discussions about Antigypsyim and social media in Spain.