Together with former Centre Research Fellow Samuel Ritholtz (EUI), the Centre researchers discuss how online extremism can accelerate mobilization against LGBT+ communities worldwide.
In alignment with the UN’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gendered Violence, former Centre Research Fellow Samuel Ritholtz (European University Institute), Centre PhD researcher Allison Koh, and Centre Professor of International and Cyber Security Anita Gohdes contributed the article “Fanning the Flames of Hate: The Transnational Diffusion of Online Anti-LGBT+ Rhetoric and Offline Mobilisation” this week to GNET’s Gender and Online Violent Extremism Series.
Beginning with a reflection on the impact of right-wing rhetoric in the United States on the recent anti-LGBT+ attack in Colorado Springs, the article then discusses the role of such online rhetoric in furthering anti-LGBT+ mobilization globally. Ritholtz, Koh, and Gohdes identify three ways in which the digital sphere amplifies this problem: by accelerating the transnational spread of anti-LGBT+ messages, by allowing for semi-anonymous alliances between disparate groups, and by facilitating coordinated online abuse against claims made by LGBT+ activists. The authors argue that “any efforts to redress [the rise in anti-LGBT+] violence must also reckon with the growing extremism of online communities”.
Read the full article here.
The Hertie School is not responsible for any content linked or referred to from these pages. Views expressed by the author/interviewee may not necessarily reflect the views and values of the Hertie School.
More about our experts
-
Anita Gohdes, Professor of International and Cyber Security