For a month, we followed up on social media comments published on Kosovo's 22 main Facebook and YouTube pages.
Originally published in Global Voices in Spanish
Graphic made via Cova Pro. Courtesy of Sydney Allen.
This article was developed by Jetlir Buja from Kosovo through the grant programme Digital Sparkas part of the project "EECA Regional Support Mechanism," implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation and TechSoupin collaboration with CIVICUS within the framework of Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI)which covers developing countries. Global Voices reproduces it as part of a content exchange agreement.
By Jetlir Buja
In May 2026, I started with the first phase of a project to understand how sexist hate speech in the digital public sphere of Kosovo works with the help of IA tools. Although discussions on violence against women online are increasingly common, there are still few local studies that analyse the specific language used in these attacks and the social narratives they reproduce.
The project arose from a simple but important question: what role does the sexist hate speech play in the public debate? Is it simply a set of offensive comments published by anonymous users, or does it perform a broader discursive function?
It is important to understand these dynamics because online discourse is increasingly influencing the attitudes of citizens, political participation and perceptions about who has a place in public life. If misogin narratives are normalized online, women may be discouraged from participating in public debate and existing inequalities are strengthened.
A disturbing image
After forming a team for the project, we began to follow up on comments posted on social media on 22 of Kosovo's main Facebook and YouTube pages. We collect and analyse 625 comments from 67 social media publications published between 1 and 31 May 2026.
These publications come from prestigious media that report on the national news.
The follow-up period coincided with the local electoral campaign and a period of intense online political debate.
The results show a disturbing picture of how women are spoken of in the digital public sphere of Kosovo, much more disturbing than many could imagine.
Dislegitimization of women
The most common form of sexism was the systematic de-legitimization of women in public life. Two thirds of all sexist comments were aimed at undermining women's participation in politics, media or public debate.
Women were usually ridiculed by their appearance, intelligence, profession or gender, rather than by their opinions or actions.
A striking linguistic pattern was observed in the data set. Women were often described with animal metaphors and degrading epithets. Terms like lopë (cow), sorrë (raven), laraskë (groans) and shtrigë (witch) they appeared repeatedly. In other cases, women were reduced to sexual insults, such as kurvë(prostitute / bitch), lavire (bitch / prostitute) or rrospi (bitch).
The aim of these comments was not simply to insult. They served to subtract legitimacy and credibility from women in public spaces.
Another recurring pattern has to do with hygiene. The sexist commentators portray women from the perspective of pollution, describe them as physical and moral dirty.
Hostility was not limited to women who voluntarily participated in the public debate.
Among the comments analysed were attacks on women reported to be victims of domestic violence. Instead of showing solidarity with the victims, many commentators justified violence, blamed women for causing abuse, or argued that men had the right to "discipline" their wives through physical or emotional abuse.
In these discussions, violence was not a crime, but a consequence of women's failure to meet traditional expectations.
The treatment of women whose reported. In a number of cases, commentators did not respond to news about missing women with concern or empathy, but rather with speculation, mockery and language sexualized. The fact that a woman could be in danger did not protect her from misogynistic abuse.
The monitoring also documented a case in which a sexist and sexualized language was addressed to a minor. This finding is significant because it calls into question a regular assumption about online misogyny.
Women in politics, journalism or other professions are often expected to face disproportionate levels of harassment. However, data suggest that sexist hostility can affect virtually any woman or girl who acquires visibility in the online public sphere.
This clearly shows that the underlying reason for many sexist comments is not opposition to specific opinions or actions, but hostility towards women and girls as a social group.
Whether a woman appears in the public and political spheres, journalist, victim of violence, disappeared person or even girl, she can become the target of the same degrading accounts, stereotypes and forms of verbal abuse.
Recurrent narratives
The data set reveals that misogyny in the environment of Kosovo's social networks is manifested through several recurrent narratives.
First, women are presented as inherently less competent and less deserving of participation in public life.
Second, traditional gender roles are presented as a natural and unquestionable thing, and women are expected to focus mainly on domestic work and care for others.
Thirdly, women are judged according to criteria of sexual morality that rarely apply to men.
Finally, violence and male authority are often normalized through a language that presents women as responsible for the abuse they suffer.
In this context, the anti-sexist voices were few but significant. They certainly exist, and that is the good news that comes from this sample. Of the 625 comments that opposed sexism, 32 tended to focus on condemning violence against women, questioning double standards and demanding respect and equality.
His language differed considerably from the language of sexist commentators. While misogynous comments were largely based on insulting, dehumanizing and ridiculizing, anti-sexist comments appealed to concepts such as dignity, equity and human rights.
This article is the first phase of a broader research project. Through a manual analysis, research has identified recurrent forms of misogynistic discourse, including dislegitimizing women in public life, normalizing gender stereotypes, sexualizing women and justifying violence.
The most relevant lesson of this phase is the importance of actively following up on sexist hate speech in the online public sphere. Without systematic observation, many of these patterns go unnoticed.
At the same time, monitoring is not just a research effort. It can also play a role in the public interest. Throughout the project, we found comments containing threats, justifications of violence and sexualized language directed at vulnerable groups.
These cases highlight the need for stricter restraint practices. Moreover, one of the conclusions of this project is that on many of the pages analyzed there seemed to be no moderation about sexist and insulting comments. They also note the importance of more responsible responses from the media hosting public debates on their platforms.
