Pauline Ferrari: “We tend to consider the Internet as a lawless space”

Interview with Pauline Ferrari, author of “ Trained to hate women ” (and. JC Lattes)

To miss. Why did you write this book?

Paolino Ferrari. As a journalist, I have been covering cyberviolence for a long time. At the same time, I offer media education in institutes, middle and high schools, in Seine-Saint-Denis. At the request of teachers through an association, we work on gender issues, LGBTphobia or racism, especially on the Internet. The comments I hear in class are increasingly uninhibited and this goes completely under the radar of adults. There is a big gap between what parents and teachers know about children’s activities and what they actually do online. For me it was important to report what I have observed and investigated for years on the impact of masculinists online.

How is online gender violence a problem that is still too little taken into consideration today?

Sexist and sexual cyberviolence is one end of the continuum of violence. Among teenagers it is very ordinary violence, like revenge porn, for example, everyone knows a story that happened to a friend. These are very current problems, many are victims of them, but they trivialize the matter, especially towards young girls, who can sometimes judge other girls very harshly. For me there are two things that are intertwined, we also tend to consider the Internet as a space without law, without responsibility, when this is false, with the idea that victims just need to turn off their phone. On the other hand there is the issue of young people; it is difficult to consider that minors can be victims or perpetrators of any form of violence. These two problems are unthinkable.

How does online masculinism combine with other forms of conspiracy?

Historian Christine Bard speaks “intersectionality of hate” and this is very right. Masculinism not only attacks women, but also LGBT people, disabled people, racialized people, Jews. This is a very permeable thought on the far right which has a virilist approach at its core. In recent years, we have seen a rise in the power of far-right influencers who exploit masculinism to sway audiences back to their political side. Misogyny is fertile ground for all extremist ideologies.

Why are teenagers the most receptive to this type of talk?

Being a teenager in 2023 means experiencing the climate crisis, the economic crisis, wars in the world, lack of work… It is very complicated to project yourself into a peaceful future. Furthermore, adolescence is generally a period of great vulnerability, in which we ask ourselves numerous questions related to love, relationships and sex. Masculinists promote ready-made content towards young people, which allows them to find simple answers by blaming others and especially women. By using multiple social networks they can quickly find themselves in information bubbles with always the same content.

Can you give us an example of a technique used by online masculinists to propagate their ideas in public space?

One of the first techniques is to flood your audience with content. For example, Mascus influencers will make dozens of TikTok videos a day, with provocative phrases to get lots of views. They provide false statistics, false quotes, or use a tragedy to serve their cause, such as Lola’s murder.

You mention several concrete solutions to try to combat the phenomenon, can you indicate two?

One of the priorities is education about gender stereotypes and inequalities. We must comply with the law when we conduct sex education classes and also provide media and information education. So, we need to create spaces to work on the mental health of children, or young adults. They must be able to express their feelings, emotions and frustrations, without turning it into something virilic that leads to hatred towards themselves and others.