Unveiling Online Misogyny and Gender-Based Abuse Against Women in Bangladesh: A Thematic Analysis of Facebook Comments

In this article, we aim to explore online misogyny on social media in the context of Bangladesh, focusing on how these platforms perpetuate gender-based abuse against women.We also employ Social Media Engagement theory to thematically analyze a substantial dataset of 5,929 Facebook comments.These comments were derived from a purposeful selection of sixty news stories shared on the Facebook pages of prominent Bangladeshi news media outlets, including Daily Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, Somoy Television, Jamuna Television, Bdnews24.com,and NewsBangla24.com,within the time frame from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2024.Our exploration revealed that around 46.57% comments were identified as misogynistic bullying.Additionally, 21.84% comments contained aggressive slang and insults, while 19.77% reflected mockery and trolling of women.A notable 11.82% comments involved shaming and humiliating behaviour towards women.These findings are indicative of a male-dominated societal structure where derogatory labels such as nosta (jezebel), oslil (nasty), magi (slut), khanki (prostitute) pazil mahila (vulgar woman), badjat mahila (ignorant woman), chata mal (sucking girls), hebbi seksy (so sexy), bessa meye (whore girl), buker akar (breast size), pacha (hip), nirlojjo mahila (shameless woman), and divorse nare (divorced women) are frequently applied to women.Furthermore, our analysis reveals that around 93.05% of the misogynistic comments originated from male users, emphasizing the role of gender identity in shaping the social status of women.Our study also emphasizes the disproportionate levels of gender-based abuse against women, particularly as it manifests in sexual harassment and derogatory messages, often from anonymous sources on social media platforms.We conclude our study by identifying key contributions that indicate necessary policy implications and the importance of social awareness initiatives aimed at creating a safer online environment for women.