IJC Survey: the Sexist Language Was Largely Used in the Election Campaign

The sexist language and the hate speech against the sexual minorities were widely used in the campaign for the presidential election held in the Republic of Moldova in Autumn 2016, both candidates who acceded to the second round having used libellous and sexist phrases addressed to the other candidate in interviews and debates. However, the largest share of denigrating words targeted at the candidate Maia Sandu, as a survey conducted by the Independent Journalism Centre points out.
 
The survey “Analysis of the sexist language used in the campaign for 2016 presidential election in the Republic of Moldova (runoff)” investigated the sexist language employed by the two remaining candidates in the race (Igor Dodon and Maia Sandu), by the journalists who interacted with them in the debates and interviews and by the public personalities who expressed their support in favour of one of the candidates. The survey focussed on four types of journalistic products: press conferences, TV broadcasts, press / radio / TV interviews and debates.

The study undertook a monitoring of the public discourse in the period 1^st – 11^th of November 2016 (the second round of the election). The findings of the survey point out the degrading effect of the sexist language not only on the concerned person, but also on others (family, relatives, friends, supporters or people of the same civil, professional, religious, gender, etc. profile). The survey also shows that the sexist language not only produced classifications and hierarchies of the candidates and their supporters, but it also influenced on the perceptions of the electorate, through descriptions, characterisations and tendentious prejudices (positive-negative) about the candidates, what may also affect the inter-human relations.

See the full survey here.