Misogynistic and sexist terms have gained traction on social media in the days since the presidential election, according to new analysis.
Research by The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) shared exclusively with Newsweek has charted the rise of misogynistic content on the social media forum 4chan after Donald Trump won the election on November 5, beating his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in a campaign where women's concerns such as access to abortion were key to decisions at the ballot box.
Newsweek contacted 4chan and the Trump campaign by email to comment on this story.
GPAHE found 1,278 posts which they said used misogynistic rhetoric on Election Day. They said this was a year-high.
Meanwhile, the group found that mentions of "your body, my choice" increased by 5,150 percent from November 5 to November 9. These came after white nationalist American podcaster Nick Fuentes went viral last week for posting the phrase on X, formerly Twitter, adapting the pro-choice phrase "my body, my choice."
Newsweek contacted Fuentes by X to comment on this story.
Mentions of receiving "handmaids" from the book and television series The Handmaid's Tale and "rape squads" spiked 126 percent from November 4 to November 6, GPAHE said. In The Handmaid's Tale, "handmaid" are women forced to give birth via sexual assault.
The research comes after searches for the word "bitch" increased by over 1,000 percent alongside online queries about Vice President Kamala Harris after she took the Democratic nomination.
"This is a form of backlash against women's progress, and it's particularly dangerous because it normalizes this behavior as part of the political landscape," Saijai Liangpunsakul, founder of the anti-Gender Based Violence coalition, Stop Online Harm, told Newsweek at the time. "This language is not just offensive; it's a tactic of suppression that reflects society's deep-rooted discomfort with women wielding authority."
Meanwhile, the nonpartisan research group Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), which monitored posts on X, TikTok, Facebook and Reddit between November 4 and November 6 also reported a rise in online misogynistic content after the election. It found that since then, US women have faced "an onslaught of online abuse, harassment, and denigration."
They reported a 4,600 percent increase in mentions of the terms "your body, my choice" and "get back in the kitchen" on X.
They also found five posts on X calling for "rape squads" or "rape." The most viewed of this post had 18,000 views.
Trump, has been frequently criticized for remarks he has made about women. He has been accused multiple times of sexual misconduct, allegations he denies. Trump was found liable in 2023 for sexually abusing E. Jean Caroll in 1996, allegations which Trump has also denied.
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