And still she rises? Perceptions of the demobilizing effects of repression

Abstract Although many scholars have studied the effects of repression on dissent, we have relatively little information on how the public perceives these effects. Do people think that protesters are likely to demobilize when faced with repression? And do such perceptions depend on the particular repressive methods being used, the characteristics of the dissenters, or a combination of the two? This manuscript uses an experimental design to address these questions, inquiring specifically into gender dynamics in repressive victimization. Research outside repression scholarship shows that public perceptions of political actors are often based on gender stereotypes. However, gender has so far received less attention in studies of contentious politics, despite the growing involvement of women in protest movements worldwide and recent reports of gender-based and sexualized repression in different contexts. This study uses a survey experiment of a U.S. sample (N = 1,500), leveraging a vignette of a protest-repression scenario in a foreign country, which randomly varies the gender of the repressed protesters (men vs. women) and the repressive tactic (rape vs multiple electric shocks). The results reveal that rape is perceived as more demobilizing across the board. However, defying prominent gender stereotypes, respondents do not expect that women are more likely to demobilize than men, even following rape. Instead, women are assumed to mobilize friends and talk to journalists. The results highlight the need for a broader research program examining public perceptions of repression and gender in contentious politics. After all, public perceptions of who asserts political agency under what conditions can have tangible socio-political ramifications, e.g., with respect to support for social movements or leadership preferences.