Women Politicians Online is a nuanced, empirically rich, and compelling analysis of how women MPs navigate the bad, the ugly, and the transformative possibilities of digital politics. Southern and Harmer offer a clear, consistently applied framework, blending UK and international cases to show both persistent inequalities and innovative, norm-subverting strategies when it comes to tech and politics. Kaitlynn Mendes, Professor of Inequality and Gender at Western University

★ Co-authored by Dr. Rosalind Southern and Dr. Emily Harmer, experts in Communication and Media Studies at the University of Liverpool!
★ Drawing on a wealth of empirical evidence and a mixed-methods research approach, this book focuses on the "digital harassment" faced by female politicians. The authors provide a multidimensional analysis of the harassment and gender-based challenges these women encounter in online and digital political spheres—including the role of memes and satirical culture—while offering a profound examination of the "vices, ugliness, and virtues" of contemporary digital media. The analysis is both nuanced and highly relevant to today’s reality.
★ Moving beyond a one-dimensional, negative narrative, the book offers a dialectical assessment of the risks and opportunities inherent in digital media. It further explores how female politicians are leveraging online platforms to break free from gender-based constraints and pioneer innovative approaches to political communication.

Women Politicians Online examines the complex relationship between gender, politics and digital media, focusing on how women politicians both navigate and are shaped by online platforms.

Taking a mixed methods approach, the book examines the disproportionate hostility women politicians face online, strategies for curating their political image and the influence of satire and digital news on public perceptions. It forwards a novel framework for understanding how women politicians are depicted on and treated via digital media, while balancing this against women politicians’ use of digital tools to project authenticity, challenge gendered expectations, and reclaim political communication from traditionally masculine norms.

Rosalynd Southern
Rosalynd Southern is a Senior Lecturer in Political Communication at the University of Liverpool. Her work focuses on how digital and social media are used for political communication, with expertise in uncivil and intolerant online speech – particularly that directed at women politicians. She is currently co-director of the DigiPol Centre for Digital Politics, Media and Democracy.

Emily Harmer
Emily Harmer is a Senior Lecturer in Media at the University of Liverpool. She has published extensively about legacy and online news media coverage of UK elections and the online othering and harassment of women in public life. She has published in leading journals such as Social Science Computer Review and Political Communication.

1. Introduction

2. Women Politicians and Digital Media

3. Alternative Online Political Media

4. Satire, Memes and Online Political Humour

5. Controlling Their Narrative? Social Media, Image Curation and the ‘Double Bind’ of Motherhood in Office

6. Different Platforms, Different Experiences: Social Media as a ‘Safe Space’ for Women Politicians?

7. Women Politicians and Online Abuse: Experiences and Effects

8. Conclusions