"The violence, the misogyny, the transphobia — it's for clicks," said Joan Donovan, Boston University professor of journalism and emerging media studies.
There's been a meteoric rise of influencers like Andrew Tate, who has figured out how to "play the algorithms" on social media to
spread his misogynistic messages.
"He professes to teach men how to be the alpha male and how to take control of situations and put women in their place. ... Unfortunately, the situation is such that many young people do feel that his advice is sound," Donovan said Monday on Boston Public Radio.
She explained that men may connect with this type of media because they feel they have been disempowered, and content like Tate's
can legitimize those feelings
"Some of these people are making a lot of money at the expense of women's safety and security," Donovan said.
Donovan offered the example of
Gamergate.
"It made a movement of men believe that women were out to get them," Donovan explained. Those men coordinated efforts to harass women in the video game industry. They sent rape threats, death threats, and even reported false crimes in order to have
police raid those women's homes.
Donovan said that while misogyny is not new, social media has changed the landscape and amplified the spread of misogynistic content.
Hema Sarang-Sieminski, deputy director of Jane Doe Inc., is working closely on raising awareness about the problem with power and control in a relationship. She explained that domestic abuse does not always manifest in physical ways; an abusive relationship can broadly be defined by a pattern of behavior in which someone attempts to control their partner.
"Examples that include everything from trying to control the technology use of a partner, trying to monitor communications, keeping a partner from seeing individuals from their cultural community or their family members — really trying to monitor and surveil the whereabouts of an individual," Sarang-Sieminski said.
She said there's a nationwide movement to recognize coercive control as a form of abuse, and update our laws accordingly.
Jane Doe Inc. is spearheading a policy effort that would expand protection for victims of abusive relationships.
"Currently, in order to obtain a restraining order, a survivor would need to show that ... either have been harmed or are in imminent fear of some kind of severe physical harm," Sarang-Sieminski said. The proposed
Bill H.4115
If you or someone you know is affected by domestic or dating violence, please call the
National Domestic Violence Hotline