Physical attractiveness offers no protection for perpetrators of online misogyny
A recent experiment found that physical attractiveness does not protect internet trolls from judgment. When encountering online misogyny, users rely on the severity of the message itself rather than being swayed by the perpetrator's profile picture.
Online misogyny perpetrators' attractiveness does not protect them from harsh judgments, according to research published in Computers in Human Behavior. Evaluating online hate, users focus on the content itself rather than the perpetrator's appearance. This finding suggests that people rely on message-based reasoning when online harassment crosses a clear moral line, rather than using mental shortcuts like physical appearance.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Vienna, involved 884 Austrian adults who evaluated misogynistic comments attributed to mock social media profiles of men with varying levels of physical attractiveness. The comments were categorized as incivility, intolerance, or explicit threats. The researchers found that users rated intolerance and threats as less acceptable and more sexist than mere incivility.
While emotional reactions intensified with the severity of the comments, participants were hesitant to directly intervene, preferring private reporting or platform moderation. Interestingly, the researchers discovered that the attractiveness of the perpetrator had no impact on users' evaluations or actions. This suggests that when misogynistic statements are highly explicit, users engage in more systematic, central-processing, overriding any leniency associated with physical attractiveness.
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