A post targeting another candidate (Figure 14) accused her of having cosmetic procedures (fillers and
Botox) and labelled her with degrading and dehumanizing language.37 The original post refers to her
as a “silicone bitch,” reducing her political identity to her physical appearance and portraying her as
artificial and morally inferior.
The comments section escalated into explicit hate speech with users employing terms such as
“silicone,” “whore,” “cheap woman,” “body seller,” “disgrace,” and “shameless,” alongside
commands like “go eat shit”, religious condemnations and direct attacks on her honor. Several
comments directly attack her honour, accuse her of prostitution, or frame her as unworthy of political
representation due to her appearance.
This constitutes gendered hate speech combining body-shaming, sexual humiliation, and moral
degradation, amplified through mass participation in the comments, with the intent of delegitimizing
the candidate and intimidating women in public life.
Figure 14: shows appearance-based hate speech and sexualized insults used to intimidate a woman candidate
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زانیاری ميديا. (2025, Oct 22). Main tactics and trends [Facebook post]. Facebook. https://perma.cc/AK9N-HA7H