“Freaks” and Raids: A Study of Networked Harassment and Misogyny in Turkey’s Authoritarian Landscape

Abstract

This article examines how networked misogyny functions as a mechanism of authoritarian patriarchal control in Turkey's digital landscape. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 33 women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) creators and digital ethnography, I ask: How do feminist and queer creators navigate gendered digital violence under authoritarian rule, and what do their experiences reveal about the relationship among state power, patriarchal ideology, and platform governance? I argue that networked misogyny in Turkey operates as a state-enabled system of gendered punishment extending offline patriarchal control into digital spaces. Building on Manne's framework of misogyny as enforcement and Banet-Weiser's concept of popular misogyny, I show how creators face two overlapping forms of harassment: identity-based attacks (targeting who they are) and genre-based attacks (targeting what they say). These are amplified by algorithmic bias, political repression, and platform inaction, making visibility a site of punishment—yet creators resist through strategic self-presentation and protective visibility. This study contributes to scholarship on digital activism under authoritarianism by showing how patriarchy, weaponized by authoritarian states, transforms platforms into infrastructures of gendered control.