Most men hold themselves responsible for online sexist hate

Almost two-thirds (63%) of men in the UK have identified themselves as being mostly responsible for online misogynistic behaviour.

The findings come from a survey conducted by YouGov and EE on misogyny in the UK ahead of the launch of the new EE Hope United campaign aiming to tackle online sexist hate.

Women are more than 17 times more likely to have experienced sexism than men (24.8% v 1.4%) with 43% of women citing that they are unable express themselves as a result. In particular, feeling uncomfortable, angry and belittled are the most common feelings associated with seeing negative comments online.

More than half of people don’t believe the internet is a safe space for women (53%) with less than a quarter (24%) of online abuse being reported to a social media platform, police or third party, while 46% say they haven’t done anything about it.

In terms of responsibility, 62% of people agree that not enough is being done to tackle the issue, however they are convinced that the public should take overall responsibility ahead of institutions such as the government, schools and the police.

In order to tackle the problem, both education and legal action are the two most common solutions and while online misogyny is not yet classified as a hate crime in England and Wales, 78% of people agree that it should be.

See the full survey here and visit the Hope United digital skills section on the website to see how you can tackle sexist hate when you see it online.