A Cost, A Tweet, A Backlash:Conceptualizing the gendered violence targeting Swedish female members of parliament in relation to the election of 2022

Abstract: An inclusive democracy is of essence to combat the changes that the world is going through seen in the trend of increasing female participation. However, attitudes towards women in the public sphere seems not as progressive as one might believe which is an understudied topic. The aim of this thesis is to examine this development through the phenomena violence against women in politics in the context of Sweden and the election of 2022. The theoretical framework consists of research on political gendered violence and its connection with social media and semiotic violence. The methodology uses a feminist critical discourse analysis focusing on gendered silences in experiences of violence. The material consists of semi-structured interviews of female parliamentarians’ experiences and reflections on being a woman in Swedish parliament together with violence. Relevant findings of this thesis indicate that gendered political violence manifest in Sweden foremost in the common sense of gendered structures and incoherence. This is especially visible if being a young woman or having another ethnic background. Hence, influences how serious the abuse is perceived among women themselves and the public. Which leads to women being silenced in topics like gender equality, climate, migration, and crime, especially on online forums.