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Women in politics face more personal, sexualized attacks than men, a recent analysis shows

Phys · · 985 words · By Arianna Sala
Digital democratic processes EU regulatory response to cyber-violence Gender-based online harassment
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What to know about Digital democratic processes

The article presents findings from a European Commission Joint Research Centre study on the nature of toxic social media replies directed at candidates in the 2024 European Parliament elections. It concludes that while the proportion of toxic replies may be similar between genders, women face more personal, sexualized, and identity-based attacks compared to the policy-based abuse faced by men.

Propaganda risk 20%
Claims checked 11
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center75%
Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Women in politics face more personal, sexualized attacks than men, a recent analysis shows Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor Online spaces, and social media in particular, are forums for vigorous political debate.

Why it matters

They provide a space for members of the public to express political opinions, organize and sometimes even interact directly with politicians.

Common ground

While they clearly have democratizing potential, these platforms have also become fertile ground for hate speech, toxic interactions and online violence.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

The article presents findings from a European Commission Joint Research Centre study on the nature of toxic social media replies directed at candidates in the 2024 European Parliament elections. It concludes that while the proportion of toxic replies may be similar between genders, women face more personal, sexualized, and identity-based attacks compared to the policy-based abuse faced by men.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-women-politics-personal-sexualized-men.html

analyticsAnalysis

20%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 7
help Insufficient Evidence 2
schedule Pending 1
verified Verified By Reference 1
schedule
Claim 1: “The Digital Services Act, which came into effect in 2024, also requires large platforms to identify and mitigate risks to democratic processes, including gender-based harms.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 2: “By analyzing more than 3.2 million responses on X (formerly Twitter) to 88 candidates for the 2024 European Parliament elections, our team at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre found significant differences in how women and men in politics are treated online.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While Wikipedia confirms the existence and role of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the specific study details (3.2 million responses, 88 candidates) are not corroborated by the provided search results, which are largely irrelevant.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (CAJU), formerly known as Clean Sky Joint Undertaking, is a public-private partnership between the European Commission and the European aeronautics industry that c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Aviation_Joint_Undertaki…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Joint Commission is a United States-based nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c) organization that accredits more than 22,000 US health care organizations and programs. The international branch accredits med…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Commission
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Research_Centre
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 3: “accounting for differences in the overall number of replies for each post, the gender difference in the proportion of toxic replies was no longer statistically significant.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of a general article on toxicity, a heatmap of political coalitions, and a general article on statistical significance, none of which confirm the specific finding regarding the proportion of toxic replies for this study.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Of these clearly toxic replies, 71% were directed at women candidates. The content was strikingly different from what male politicians faced.
https://theconversation.com/women-in-politics-face-more-pers…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Toxicity of interactions between coalitions’ supporters. Heatmap that shows the proportion of replies that are toxic (toxicity > 0.5) exchanged by users affiliated with different political groups. The…
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjds/s13688-024-0…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Unfortunately, a statistically significant difference is not necessarily…Graph showing the same distributions as the previous graph, but scaled to reflect the proportions of these groups in the genera…
https://sugarandslugs.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/sex-differenc…
help
Claim 4: “A new directive on violence against women criminalizes cyberstalking and harassment across all EU countries.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for a specific EU directive criminalizing cyberstalking and harassment across all member states.
info
Claim 5: “Women candidates received more toxic replies in absolute terms than their male counterparts.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim is explicitly stated in the web search result 'Women in politics face more personal, sexualized attacks than men...', but no other independent sources are provided to corroborate this specific finding.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 European Parliament elections in Croatia were held on 9 June 2024 as part of the 2024 European Parliament election. This was the fourth parliamentary election since Croatia's EU accession in …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_European_Parliament_elect…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union (EU) and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The ninth European Parliament was elected during the 2019 elections and sat until the tenth European Parliament was sworn in on 16 July 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninth_European_Parliament
info
Claim 6: “Of these clearly toxic replies, 71% were directed at women candidates.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific statistic (71% of clearly toxic replies directed at women) is found in one web search result ('Women in politics face more personal, sexualized attacks than men...'). Other results are irrelevant.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — A large language model (LLM) is an AI model (typically a neural network) trained on a vast amount of text for natural language processing tasks, especially language generation. LLMs can typically gene…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Somerton Man is an unidentified man whose body was found on 1 December 1948 on the beach at Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The case is also known by the Persian phrase tamám…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerton_Man
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The My Hero Academia manga and anime series features various characters created by Kōhei Horikoshi. The series takes place in a fictional world where over 80% of the population possesses a superpower,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_My_Hero_Academia_chara…
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 7: “One in four received comments of a sexual nature.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence mentions a general IPU study where 20% of female MPs reported sexual harassment, but it does not confirm the specific 'one in four' (25%) statistic for the candidates in the JRC study.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The likeability trap is a campaign tactic where one attempts to portray one's opponent, usually a woman, as calculating or power-hungry to harm their general likeability among the electorate. The emer…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likeability_trap
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Representation by women has been a significant issue in Canadian politics since 1900. The first woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada was Louise McKinney in the 1917 Alberta general elec…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Canadian_politics
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In many countries, women have been underrepresented in the government and different institutions. As of 2026, women were still underrepresented in most countries, but were increasingly being elected t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_government
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 8: “Research from Sweden, New Zealand and the Netherlands has documented the same gendered patterns”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for research in Sweden, New Zealand, and the Netherlands regarding these specific gendered patterns.
info
Claim 9: “We found that 62% of toxic replies to women contained two or more such elements. By contrast, 52% of toxic replies to men had only one.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific percentages (62% for women, 52% for men) are found in the web search result 'Women in politics face more personal, sexualized attacks than men...'. No other independent sources corroborate these numbers.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — By contrast, 52% of toxic replies to men had only one.Toxic replies to women were disproportionately personal, sexualized, and multi-element, whereas abuse toward men more often targeted political con…
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-women-politics-personal-sexual…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — I break down the quiet, surgical tactics toxic partners use — the push-pull, the guilt grenades, the silent treatment, the weaponized tears — and give you a simple, brutal truth: boundaries are not re…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcXgHE55Wgo
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Love relationships with toxic women or men can be incredibly damaging. They are not only detrimental to one’s mental and emotional health, but they can also lead to physical harm.Toxic relationships c…
https://www.powerofpositivity.com/toxic-women-warning-signs/
info
Claim 10: “Almost 80% of the candidates studied, who were from France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, received toxic replies”
SINGLE SOURCE
One web search result ('Women in politics face more personal, sexualized attacks than men...') explicitly mentions that almost 80% of candidates from France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain received toxic replies. No other independent sources confirm this specific statistic.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Italian diaspora (Italian: emigrazione italiana, pronounced [emiɡratˈtsjoːne itaˈljaːna], lit. 'Italian emigration') is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Ital…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_diaspora
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Philip II (21 May 1527 – 13 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (Spanish: Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Spain
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025–26 European windstorm season was the eleventh year of the continent's coordinated severe weather naming programme. While the official list of names was unveiled on 1 September 2025, the seaso…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–26_European_windstorm_sea…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 11: “The data also revealed that female candidates from left-leaning political groups attracted higher volumes of toxic replies.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results provided for this claim are adult content and completely irrelevant to political research or toxic replies.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Exotic Wheelchair Cripple Slut Gets Pick Up in Public! PART 2: I’M FUCKING MY STEPMOM WHILE MY GIRLFRIEND AND STEPDAD WATCH A MOVIE.
https://www.xvideos.com/lang/espanol
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Disfruta de la mayor comunidad de porno amateur de la red, así como de escenas completas de los mejores estudios XXX. Actualizamos nuestros vídeos porno a diario para asegurarnos de que siempre obteng…
https://es.pornhub.com/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Chicos latinos de 18 años son tan cachondos que follan sin importar que su padrastro este al lado suyo. QUE RICAS TUS TETAS Y TU COÑO! MIRA COMO TE METO LOS DEDOS Y HAGO CORRER CON MI LENGUA.
https://es.pornhub.com/language/spanish
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.