“Play the ball not the man.” That’s what rugby players are taught from an early age and rugby is a pretty rough sport.

But playing the woman seems the norm on the brutal pitches of politics according to new research across three continents.

Yes men are criticised, insulted and ridiculed when they stand for office, but rarely so for being male. Masculinity itself is not usually associated with incompetence. How men look matters a lot less than what they say. Speculation about sexual preferences or behaviour are generally kept out of the picture, and threats of physical violence are almost unheard of.

Not so with women. Theresa May gets three times as many comments on her appearance as Jeremy Corbyn – despite him having graced the cover of the most stylish and successful magazine in the world. The Frida Kahlo-adorned bracelet Theresa May wore at party conference might have dominated social media had the set not collapsed and her cough gone away.

Attacks on the Labour leader tend to focus on his longstanding outlook and policies. A so-called mature sceptic tweeted last November, “He is a lying, dishonest Marxist who would totally wreck what little is left of our country.”

Not nice. But not that ugly either compared to some of the abuse directed at the Prime Minister: “Jeez”, wrote so-called Cosmic Landmine. “Theresa May is worse than fucking useless. She has all the gravitas of a fart in a thunderstorm.”

The tone is not the real problem. The report just released by Atalanta identifies recurring themes: delegitimising women as leaders; depersonalising; intentionally distracting female politicians from their real work; sometimes dissuading women from being politically active; and raising anxieties about their physical safety.

Most troubling is the threatening language and graphic sexual depictions of female politicians online.

© Getty Images

The former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff was dubbed “the lying prostitute from the Planalto” by one blogger and grotesque images of her with legs splayed on social media were turned into car stickers to fit around fuel tanks. Drivers were advised to “penetrate her every time they fill up”.

That was clearly extreme but a survey by the Inter-Parliamentary Union across 39 countries found that more than 80 per cent of female parliamentarians had been subjected to psychological violence through “misogynist remarks, humiliating images, mobbing, intimidation and threats”. Add race or religion into the mix and it gets even worse. Amnesty International concluded that black and asian women in the UK get 35 per cent more abusive tweets than white women, and the aggressive nature of some is deeply disturbing. The shadow home secretary was subjected to a hashtag #burnDianeAbbot, and a tweet calling on her to be hanged “if they could find a tree big enough to take the fat bitch’s weight”.

Luciana Berger, a Labour MP of Jewish origin has also faced death threats, accompanied by vile anti-Semitic images and remarks.

So what’s the answer? Part of the problem is that social media puts public figures in virtual stocks but offers a safe haven for the cowards who attack them. In the good old days – when a protestor hurled an egg at the deputy prime minister back in 2001, John Prescott fought back – quite literally - landing a perfect punch on his chin.

Eva Barboni founded Atalanta to fight back against today’s attacks and more broadly to positively encourage and enable more women to get elected. Having learnt some of her trade from the Australian political strategist, Lynton Crosby, she knows the score too well, and offers some clear advice to would-be female politicians. Push back, turn the tables on sexism, document and report abuse, push platforms to tackle the problem, set rules and provide perspective.

Her advice is equally clear on not neglecting valuable channels for advancement “despite the pitfalls, digital campaigning still offers significant benefits for female candidates, which should not be overlooked”.

There is a challenge for us men too. Don’t fuel the fire. Don’t be silent, speak up and demand that governments, political parties, newsrooms, media companies and the police help address this.

Read more:

#MeToo: Newspapers present a very male face to the world