Sicherung politischer Teilhabe im Kontext von Online-Misogynie – Einblicke in die emischen Perspektiven von Kommunalpolitikerinnen in Deutschland

This article examines the effects of online misogyny on the political participation of women local politicians in German-speaking contexts. It is based on interviews with women serving on a city council and a migration advisory board. Using a spatial-theoretical framework of gendered spaces, the article analyzes the findings within patriarchal structures of the political sphere and explores broader systems that normalize and privilege certain subjectivities. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s concept of bodies out of place, women politicians are understood as navigating a male-dominated space of local politics. In response to online misogyny, they employ self-censorship to manage and pre-empt such encounters. The article further examines how women politicians trivialize online misogyny while simultaneously expressing feelings of resignation. Both are interpreted as forms of self-assertion and as an investment in analog political success. In doing so, the women experience tensions that reflect their ongoing attempts to orient themselves within local politics.