No, women aren’t the main drivers of sexist abuse online In my seven years on Twitter, I’ve been contradicted by a lot of men. But the most bizarre moment came […]

In my seven years on Twitter, I’ve been contradicted by a lot of men. But the most bizarre moment came after I’d tweeted that a piece of writing was misogynistic, and another user pointed out that it couldn’t be, because a woman had written it. Aha! Feminism disproved!

But, of course, anyone can be misogynistic: the word refers to the gender of the discrimination’s recipient, not the person handing it out. Men like this Twitter user will be particularly shocked by a report, out this week, claiming that women in both the US and UK are actually more likely to use misogynistic language on social media than men. I imagine, too, that they’ll be vindicated. Feminism disproved, properly this time!

Becky and Azealia

Actually, counterintuitive reports about misogyny online are nothing new. In May, Demos, a UK-based think tank, found that around 50 per cent of 10,000 tweets containing the words “Slut” and “whore” were from women. This top line was seized on, but on speaking to the researchers, I found that all was not as it seemed.

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‘Cow’ and ‘bitch’ The misogynistic terms commonly used by women in the Brandwatch study

They told me that the period of tweets analysed covered a scandal involving singer Azealea Banks, and the release of Beyonce’s album Lemonade. A good proportion of these “slut” or “whore” tweets were sent to Banks; or to the women accused of sleeping with Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, the “Becky” named in Beyonce’s songs.

The researcher suggested that female social media users were particularly prone to abuse celebrity figures, rather than target one another directly. Now, these tweets don’t sound particularly nice, but they’re not the kind of targeted online harassment that keeps women awake at night.

Gender differences

The new study, this time from social media monitoring company Brandwatch, covered 19 million tweets, and is therefore far more thorough. More than 60 per cent of the abusive tweets sent by women used words like “cow” and bitch”, while men were more likely to criticise a woman’s intelligence, sexual orientation or appearance.

These studies grab headlines because “man abuses woman online” is the equivalent of “dog bites man”: not news

What these two studies have in common is that they used an algorithm. Algorithms are very good at finding particular words, but they’re not always so strong on context. The word “bitch”, especially in the last couple of years, is often used as a term of affection between women. There’s no guarantee that a user’s gender is listed or guessed correctly. And if I had to choose between an offhand “she’s a cow” and a critique of my intelligence, I know which I’d prefer.

Anecdote vs algorithm

The mocking or patronising tweets I receive are usually from men. The creepy direct messages are all from men. A recent tweet about the Ched Evans case received thousands of silent “likes”, the majority from women, and hundreds of abusive or angry tweets, mostly from men, including graphic descriptions of why the victim may not have been able to speak during sex.

These studies grab headlines because “man abuses woman online” is the equivalent of “dog bites man”: not news. But if they, and the algorithms behind them, directly conflict with the majority of anecdotal evidence you’ll hear from women around you – that men are the main offenders of harassment, abuse, stalking, and threats- online – then perhaps that’s because these studies are not showing the whole picture.

Misogyny can come from anyone. But take it from me: those who are furious that women have access to a limitless platform on which to raise their voices – the internet and social media – aren’t, for the most part, women.

Twitter: @bspeed8