Women Politicians Online

The Bad, the Ugly and the Good of Digital Media

by Rosalynd Southern|Emily Harmer

Sorry, this book isn't available in your local currency. Please choose an alternate currency above.

eBook

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.

Skip to the end of the images gallery

Bristol University Press

This book can be opened with

Skip to the beginning of the images gallery

About the author

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 is a Senior Lecturer in Communication and 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.

ISBN: 9781529258981

Format: eBook

Publication Date: 10/09/2026

Imprint: Bristol University Press