Source: Amnesty International –
An innovative new research briefing by Amnesty International breaks down the “virulent cocktail” of xenophobic, racist and misogynistic hate targeting racialized women and LGBTQI+ people in Canada.
The Hate is Intersectional: Xenophobic Technology-facilitates Gender-Based Violence (TfGBV) against Racialized Women and 2SLGBTQIA+ People in Canada exposes a playbook of toxic tropes and tactics spreading across social media as anti-immigrant rhetoric rises both online and offline. Launching alongside the briefing are new social media videos and graphics – part of Amnesty International’s global Make It Safe Online campaign – to counter online hate with messages of critical resistance, inclusion, and hope.
“We are in the midst of an epidemic of digital hate-mongering designed to intimidate, dehumanize and attack racialized migrant women and LGBTQI+ people,” said Shreshtha Das, researcher and advisor on gender at Amnesty International.
“These attacks subject racialized women and LGBTQI+ people to a virulent cocktail of misogynist, xenophobic and racist hate that is steeped in ideas of white supremacy. We hope that, by exposing hateful false narratives and how they spread, we can draw attention to the toll it takes, help survivors get the support they need, and contribute to the work of activists fighting back.”
To arrive at their findings, Amnesty researchers drew upon a computer-assisted text analysis of thousands of social media posts and comments, as well as interviews with Black, Indigenous and other racialized women and LGBTQI+ people who had experienced technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TfGBV). (The term LGBTQI+ refers to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer, and can include other minority groups who have been discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation or gender identity.)
We are in the midst of an epidemic of digital hate-mongering designed to intimidate, dehumanize and attack racialized migrant women and LGBTQI+ people
Shreshtha Das, researcher and advisor on gender at Amnesty International.
Amnesty International’s analysis found that racialized migrants and others perceived as such – particularly women and LGBTQI+ people – are routinely subjected to racist, homophobic and misogynistic attacks, including misogynist slurs, dehumanizing racist language likening them to animals or disease, and narratives framing them as economic “burdens” and targets for exclusion, deportation and violence.