3. Contextual overview — desk review
activists such as Farah Yousef, Ziena Shahla, and Hiba
Ezeldin. The analysis further revealed discursive patterns
that confine women’s roles to domestic spaces, question
their ability to drive or lead, and subject individuals with
differing political views to sexualized and verbal harassment, reflecting deep societal polarization. While male
activists are also attacked, women face heightened moral
shaming and reputational damage. This pattern is often
justified under sectarian or political labels and is frequently used as a form of moral erasure against anyone
who voices different political opinions. Moreover, some
comments extend to the civil society sector, accusing
organizations that empower women or build their capacities of insincerity or financial opportunism.
rampant crime due to your inciting speeches against the
opposite gender on a global level, and you will bear the
responsibility soon.” and/or “I feel sorry for you and see
you as a suitable case study for psychiatric clinics. You
are a mixture of moral depravity, lying, deceit, and homosexuality, with a little faith and some psychological issues.
I am sure you are a hopeless case. Psychiatry has reached
an advanced level in medical and behavioral treatments,
but there is no cure for the disease of lying.” The result is
not only immediate harm to individuals but an effect on
public discussions: many potential contributors, especially women, choose silence over engagement, narrowing the space for diverse perspectives and accountability
(ACAPS, 2025; Al-sakkaf and Alsayed, 2023; Mobaderoon
co, 2025; UNFPA, 2024).
Some comments extend to the civil society
sector, accusing organizations that empower
women or build their capacities of insincerity
or financial opportunism.
3.5.2 Using ethnic and sectarian oriented
GBVO comments to intensify hostility
Analysis of the GBVO comments collected during the scan
revealed four recurring patterns in which such comments
appeared. These themes appeared to be non‑exclusive,
as multiple forms often appeared within the same comment — for instance, a single post could be both sectarian‑
oriented and appearance‑based. The four themes include:
using GBVO to silence differing opinions; deploying ethnic
or sectarian insults to escalate hostility; spreading appearance‑based harassment regardless of dress or social
status; and using GBVO to marginalize women’s presence
in the public sphere.
3.5.1 GBVO as a tool to silence
differences in opinion
In the dataset of scans, it was observed that GBVO comments are mostly offensive and hate‑filled, as comments
ranged from direct insults and slurs to reputational threats
and sexualized shaming. While men and women both
face abuse, women are especially vulnerable because
social norms expect them to remain quiet, and gendered
attacks are used to push them further to the margins. For
example, “She is the ridiculous TV presenter who, a few
months ago, mocked the absence of slave women in the
coastal area and ridiculed our pain. A TV presenter with
many faces and colors.” “It is amusing that some call for
equality while there is no platform or organization for
men to express their opinions or defend their rights. The
violence that women exercise against men has become a
Many GBVO incidents combine gendered abuse with
ethnic and religious sectarian hostility, for example those
who publicly condemned the Sweida clashes (Al Jazeera,
2025) were accused of being Assad allies, further stigmatizing and silencing dissenting voices. For example, the
case of Ziena Shahla, which surfaced during the GBVO
social media scans and KIIs, illustrates how dissent
becomes a trigger for gendered harassment. When Ziena
Shahla, a journalist and activist, joined a peaceful “Syrian
blood is sacred” vigil to denounce the Suwayda bloodshed, she was singled out with coordinated verbal attacks
and reputational smears. Examples of attacks include: “A
whore and sectarian woman who works for the #Zionists
claimed to oppose Bashar al-Assad, and today she shows
her support for the Israeli gangs” and “This is extremely
painful; damn you all. What is this silence? Why don’t you
stand with the Sunnis in Sweida? Children have their
heads cut off while still alive, and women are raped and
burned amidst their suffering. What kind of society allows
such atrocities to happen? You are from the minority and a
collaborator with the Zionists”. Additionally, the violence
against Ziena Shahla extended from the online sphere
towards the physical world where she was physically
attacked and injured.
25
Many Gender-Based Violence Online
incidents combine gendered abuse with
ethnic and religious sectarian hostility.