By Dinouk Colombage 

Image Credit: Feminism in India

The online spaces have fast become an unregulated medium allowing for unchecked commentary and actions targeting groups across society. Violence and discrimination, often the actions of those who are insecure about their own positions within a community, have reared their ugly heads within the online spaces.

Women are one such group that is facing a growing stream of online abuse based on preconceived notions. Traditionally abuse directed towards women has been the result of the overpowering self-doubt that lingers within the individuals who have chosen to partake in these actions. However, in recent years with the increased emphasis on social media and the internet, groups have directed abuse towards women with a hidden motive.

In Sri Lanka, misogyny is not a new phenomenon having slowly yet surely embedded itself within communities around the country. This has now spread to the online mediums. In a report compiled in 2018, it was found that mistrust and suspicion, rather misconception, which contributed to the rise in misogyny.[1] Men took to attacking women who were found to be “encroaching” into areas of employment, interest or discussion. This can be backed up by the fact that with the growth of internet penetration in Sri Lanka, women are more vocal and forthcoming.

Accordingly, it has been found that women are more comfortable engaging in online discussions compared to face-to-face interactions. Due to the patriarchal nature of society women often find themselves unable to speak up in society. However, with the advancement of social media and the increased accessibility, women have found a new medium by which they can express themselves more openly.[2]

While this provided women with the platforms in which to express themselves freely, it also opened them up to a greater level of abuse. One reason behind this pushback by men has been caused by women finding themselves more comfortable on the online spaces. This has allowed them to express “their political views, opinion on gender issues (gender equality and gender security), health security demands (reproductive health rights) and many more thought-provoking subjects occupying the minds of the people of today’s society.”[3] The outspoken nature of women on these social media channels have allowed them to break the stereotype of women being weaker and more subservient to men and their ideas.

Of course, challenging these staunchly held ideas of a woman has resulted in men taking the attack to them.

When Sri Lanka re-started the discussions around the possibility of a “burqa and niqab ban” in 2019, a divide between men and women emerged online. While the authorities deployed the argument of national security as the purpose behind the ban, many Muslim women felt that such a move was one of discrimination. Claiming that the niqab formed a part of their identity, Muslim women took to social media to voice their opposition.[4]

This voicing of opinion was met with backlash, with many men (both Muslim and Sinhalese) resorting to sexist and racist commentary in an attempt to silence the opposition. The overwhelming opposition to the women’s stance regarding the ban allowed for the authorities to finally push ahead with the necessary legislation to enforce the ban.

Fear and uncertainty have also been a cause for the rise in online misogyny found in Sri Lanka. During the COVID-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka, health authorities were hard pressed to provide all the answers to the questions being posed by the public.

When the second wave of the COVID-19 virus broke out in Sri Lanka last year (2020), the cause of the wave was unknown. With the authorities having downplayed the figures previously, it had been assumed that the virus had been eradicated in the country. However, with the sudden and rapid spread of the virus once again, the public demanded answers.

With no proper responses being given, those online were quick to attack a female garment worker who had been infected with the virus. While failing to ascertain how she was infected, the online public, driven by males, turned their attacks on the woman. Through sexist commentary, the attacks focused on the idea that this garment worker had neglected her duties at home and by continuing to work had infected the rest of the workforce. Online spaced were soon brimming with salacious gossip insinuating that she had contracted the virus from an extra-marital affair. It does warrant mention that none of those who bought into these baseless accusations failed to question whether her alleged partner was responsible for infecting her.

The suggestion that the spread of the COVID-19 virus via sexual interactions was not a new allegation levelled online. When the first COVID-19 outbreak was reported in the country, stories emerged online depicting Muslim women, who were COVID-19 positive, as offering sexual favours to Sinhala men. The purpose of this unfounded allegations was to depict the Muslim community as using women to spread the virus amongst the Sinhala populace.

While civil society groups were quick to highlight the falsity of these stories, the damage was done with the online public sharing these rumours. The resulting anti-Muslim sentiment that had emerged was in large part thanks to these fake news stories that were spread unopposed in the early days of the virus. The success of this propaganda was due to the convoluted impressions of women that exist among the general public.

The orchestrated idea that women would allow their bodies to be used by others for such a campaign did not raise any questions amongst the public. Interestingly it does draw our minds back to the tactics deployed during the Cold War of spies engaging in “sexpionage”, an act of deceiving an enemy through the use of sexual favours. While both men and women deployed this tactic, history has since presented a more sexist view of this being a preferred choice of women.

It does raise the question of whether or not these groups played upon these misconceived notions of women and their willingness to use their bodies to achieve an ulterior motive.

However, it must be noted that online misogyny is not a new phenomenon in Sri Lanka. Sexist attitudes towards women have found not always to be caused by misogyny, but in some cases have proven to simply be a tool to achieve another purpose. As earlier as 2012 extremist groups resorted to sexist segregation in an attempt to promote their own ideological messages. The Bodu Bala Sena, a Sinhala-Buddhist extremist group whom several acts of racial violence have been attributed to, were one of the original proponents of online misogyny.

When the Bodu Bala Sena emerged in Sri Lanka, they did so on a foundation of anti-Muslim sentiment. While having originally promoted a campaign that Muslims were attempting to encroach into Sinhala-Buddhist regions, they soon changed tact.

Using women as a rallying point, the Sinhala-Buddhist hardline groups accused Muslims of attempting to carry out sterilization campaigns against Sinhalese women. Suggesting that this was part of a larger campaign by the Muslim populace to overtake the Sinhalese, these groups ran a concerted online campaign. At the heart of the propaganda campaign was the appeal to the traditional notions held about women. This was that women were “weak” and required the protection of the men.

In 2019 a coordinated online campaign was run attacking a Muslim doctor in Kurunegala, accusing him of carrying out sterilization procedures on thousands of Sinhalese women.[5] Despite these claims being proven as false, the campaign continued to run online for several weeks causing immeasurable damage to both the doctor and his family, along with the Muslim community as a whole. In this instance, while women were not the target of the campaign, they were deployed as a “means to an end”. The preconceived notions that women are weaker and require the protection of men were deployed by those behind this campaign. This allowed the organisers behind this campaign to appeal to those who have held firm to their beliefs.

Whether women have been portrayed as weak and requiring protection, deploying sexual favours for an ulterior motive or simply on the receiving end of abuse due to voicing their opinions online, misogyny is certainly proving to be a tool of choice for online groups. Regardless of their purpose, these groups have picked upon misogyny as a vehicle that they believe is most effective in carrying their message to the masses. Judging by the response and longevity of such campaigns, it would appear that they are correct.

Social media has proven to provide unfettered access to an exchange of ideas and discussions. It has helped society challenge to the traditional perceptions of what “rules” should govern our conduct. However, as it has grown and developed, the only space has now given room to those who wish to continue to persecute. Online misogyny has grown hand-in-hand with the freedom afforded to women. With this growing threat to the new-found freedoms enjoyed by women, we are witnessing social media be transformed into a battleground. As misogyny on social media expands, so too does the pushback. We now are watching a tug-of-war battle, with the outcome far from certain.

About the Writer

Dinouk Colombage identifies as a media and communications expert, political advocate, and entrepreneur in Sri Lanka. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney (majoring in 20th Century History). Dinouk works primarily as an independent consultant in media & communications in politics and activism, focusing primarily on social media. He also manages his own boutique villa in Dambulla, Ahas Dambulla, which caters to high-end tourism. He was previously a journalist for the Sunday Leader and Al-Jazeera. Following his time as a journalist, Dinouk was a Media Secretary to a Cabinet Minister before assuming duties as a Media and Communications advisor to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.