# Online Misogyny Against Female Candidates in the 2022 Brazilian Elections: A Threat to Women's Political Representation?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.07523 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07523/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 12 Mar 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Same violence, different answer: how AI responds to coercive control against women across languages](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.01436/) (2026)
- [GENDIS: Gender-Related Discourse and Stance in Multilingual YouTube Comments from India, Kenya, and Nigeria](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17778/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence has become a global threat to women's political representation and democracy. Understanding how online hate affects its targets is thus paramount. We analyse 10 million tweets directed at female candidates in the Brazilian election in 2022 and examine their reactions to online misogyny. Using a self-trained machine learning classifier to detect Portuguese misogynistic tweets and a quantitative analysis of the candidates' tweeting behaviour, we investigate how the number of misogynistic attacks received alters the online activity of the female candidates. We find that young and left-wing candidates and candidates with higher visibility online received significantly more attacks. Furthermore, we find that an increase in misogynistic attacks in the previous week is associated with a decrease in female candidates' tweets in the following week. This potentially threatens their equal participation in public opinion building and silences women's voices in political discourse.