Case Studies
Kristýna Drápalová
Kristýna Drápalová is an opposition representative at the Prague City Council and a specialist in public space and visual pollution. In her running she has been drawing attention to the problematic management of multi-billion-crown assets by the Council and the leasing of lucrative premises in central Prague to a group of entrepreneurs. In September 2023 stalking of her began.
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First incident was a man watching her in a coffee place on a meeting with a friend, later he and another man tried to get into a building in which there was a closed party that Drápalová attended, later that night he was ringing on the bell of the councilwoman’s flat. Police were called by Drápalová after the second time the bell rang, but by the time they arrived, no one was to be found. Then again in February 2024 two men were caught trying to install a camera focusing on the window of Drápalová’s apartment.
The only identified in this case is the man from a coffee place, called Vejdovec, the identity of the other three men remains unknown. In 2024 a police investigation was conducted, the man in question (actually being ex policeman already once convicted for misconduct in office) was referred to administrative offence proceedings, as they concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him for a criminal offence. However, later that year, the stalker sent an apologizing letter and 30 000 crowns as damages to Drápalová. At the end of 2024 the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prague 8 returned the case to the police for further investigation at the end of last year with reproaches that the police had failed to identify Vejdovec’s accomplices or to investigate the men installing the camera and also that the police failed to look into the motives and reasons why Vejdovec was following the politician.
However, the police decided not to proceed further as they argue that the only identified stalker has already received a fine and cannot be punished twice for the same act. Drápalová herself says that the stalking was ordered by someone and has three theories as who might have ordered and paid these men to follow her - the first theory suggests that certain businesspeople from central Prague are behind it, the second possibility is that some officials from the city hall are involved, and the third option is that political rivals are responsible. When the first incident happened Drápalová admits that she felt really scared and paranoid also because she thought and still thinks to this day that her phone was bugged and that’s why the stalker knew where to locate her. Due to the fact that Vejdovec was following her openly (wasn’t trying to be concealed in the coffee place and the bell ringing was very straightforward move) the councilwoman states that the stalking was to intimidate her and force her to dig into some on the issues she was focusing on in her political function. Because of her looking into some dirty practices in the Council and also by some Prague businessmen she has faced unpopularity in the City Council and faced harassment and mocking on her gender and age.
The City Council didn’t take the surveillance of Drápalová very seriously and didn’t support her, her colleagues mostly view it as a common practice and simply how local politics are usually done in Prague. The Director of the Prague City Hall even demanded that Drápalová stops criticizing the functioning of the City Hall and apologizes for her statements. When the identity of the perpetrator was revealed, the councilwoman felt relief, but after the refusal to reinvestigate the case by the police her indignation and also the feeling of not being protected enough remains. However, she states that the whole incident gave her the motivation to keep going and not stop scrutinizing the conditions of Prague politics and the City Council. The representative decided to donate some of the money she received from the perpetrator for legal representation for those who may have also faced a similar situation as Drápalová due to their public activities.
And even though her case received a media attention and she got a lot of support from people, she wishes the violence against women in public sphere would be taken more seriously and that the police would reinvestigate the case thoroughly. Drápalová states that she would appreciate if a special unit would cover her case and discover who was behind all this.
Resources:
Olga Richterová
Olga Richterová is a Czech politician, vice-chair of the Chamber of Deputies and a prominent member of the Czech Pirate Party. She has been actively involved in legislative work, especially in social policy and housing issues.
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In October 2024 Olga Richterová shared this post on the X social media describing the incident in detail:
“Now something a bit more personal:
Yesterday morning, on October 16, 2024, at 8:40 AM, I was riding tram number 13 from Ruská. On the tram, a large middle-aged man started shouting at me and aggressively threatening me. He yelled about shooting and said that this would be my last Christmas. He was actually holding a book about shooting, and overall, he looked like he posed an immediate threat of assault.
I want to thank the two young men who called on the attacker to stop. Thanks to them, he stepped back a little, and I was able to take a photo of him.
I thought that if I got off at Krymská, he would stay on the tram. But instead, he got off with me and continued shouting at me in front of other people until I managed to call the police. Much of this must have been visible even from tram number 22, which was at Krymská between 8:44 and 8:45. Why am I writing this? I’m not the first person to have a disturbing experience with this man. The police are investigating, but they need more witnesses.
So please, if you were on tram 13 with me, witnessed the incident at Krymská stop, or saw what happened from tram 22, contact @PolicieCZ with your testimony. It’s important that this man gets a clear and firm stop.
Once again, a heartfelt thank you to the two men who stood up for me. Their testimony will be very helpful. And of course, sharing this message will help too – so that it reaches as many people as possible."
Richterová immediately contacted law enforcement and publicly shared the incident to raise awareness. The police spokesperson stated that thanks to the incident being public on social media, a witness could come forward, which allowed the police to identify the threating man. The police asked him to report to the station, which he the did voluntarily on his own. There was an investigation launched against the man on the suspicion of several criminal offenses. However, due to his mental condition, the man was transferred to a psychiatric hospital, and it also came to light that he had been hospitalized more than thirty times in the past.
The media also widely reported the case. Her political party as well as the Prime Minister and also some politicians from other political parties, as well as the broader public responded with support, but the incident also sparked a conversation about security for public officials, as the case highlighted the lack of systematic institutional support for politicians facing threats, especially women. Olga Richterová did not speak of this matter no more than this sharing of the incident on her social media right after its happening and she didn’t share much of her feelings towards the incident and after. However, she regularly speaks about the harassment, hate, abuse etc. that she as a female politician faces and brings up the issue of violence against women in politics.
Resources:
Collective Summary
There are several reasons why these politicians were chosen for case studies. One of them is a local representative and the other one is a politician on a state level. Both decided to involve the Police, but there is a significant difference between the investigation and legal process, the attitude and the outcomes of the investigations. Both cases were of real-life intimidation and harassment character and thanks to the politicians going public about their experiences the debate about the vulnerability of female politicians was revived. However, where Richterová received support not only from her colleagues, but from her superiors and political opponents, Drápalová was discredited as she had already been facing mocking by her opponents also due to her gender.
Henriette Reker
Henriette Reker is a non-partisan German politician and jurist. Since 2015, she has been the mayor of the city of Cologne. Previously, she served as deputy mayor, responsible for social affairs, integration, and the environment.
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In the autumn of 2015, Reker ran as a non-partisan candidate for mayor of Cologne. The CDU, FDP, and the Greens publicly supported her candidacy. Her election campaign took place against the backdrop of the so-called “refugee crisis” in a society that was becoming increasingly polarized, particularly on the issue of migration. Her clear stance in favor of a humane asylum policy made her a target of right-wing extremist and xenophobic hostility.
On Saturday, October 17, 2015, the last day of her campaign, Henriette Reker attended a campaign event at the weekly market in the Cologne district of Braunsfeld. There, she was handing out roses to passersby. A man approached her, asked for a rose, and then pulled out a combat knife and stabbed her in the neck. The attacker was taken into custody without resistance. According to statements made to the police, he cited his opposition to Reker’s and then Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policies as his motive. Henriette Reker suffered life-threatening injuries: her windpipe was severed, and the blade split a thoracic vertebra. She was kept in an induced coma for five days and only learned of her election as mayor days later.
The attack caused widespread shock and solidarity nationwide. Politicians from all parties, the media, citizens, and civil society organizations expressed their support. The then Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft, tweeted: “This is an attack on all of us”. Reker herself showed great determination. Despite ongoing health issues, she took office just weeks after the attack. Her words – “Getting up and carrying on is an act of civil resistance” – became a symbolic statement against political violence. In 2016, the perpetrator was sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempted murder and multiple counts of serious bodily harm.
The attack on Reker is considered a landmark example of the threat to democratic actors posed by right-wing extremist violence. Its physical and psychological consequences on her continue to affect Cologne’s mayor: she is protected by personal security at selected events to this day. Henriette Reker received support from state institutions, security authorities, and cross-party solidarity. Her return to office was accompanied by great public support in the city. The attack led to intensified discussions about the protection of officeholders and elected representatives, especially at the local level. The case raised awareness in politics and society about the increase in politically motivated violence - and in particular against women – and helped strengthen existing protection and support networks.
Resources:
- Schmidt and Fischer, 2024: “Messerangriff auf die Demokratie.”
- eutschlandfunk, 2016: “OB Reker schildert Messerangriff: Seit dem Attentat Alpträume.”
- ZEIT Online, 2015: “Köln: OB-Kandidatin Bei Messerangriff schwer verletzt.”
- Lakotta, 2016: “Messerangriff auf Henriette Reker: ‘Er wollte ein Klima der Angst erzeugen.’”
- HateAid, 2023: “Voller Erfolg für Künast im Facebook-Verfahren.”
Renate Künast
Renate Künast is a German politician from the Greens. She served as Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection from 2001 to 2005 and was a member of the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2025. Künast is one of the most prominent politicians of the Greens, known primarily for her clear positions on issues such as equality, environmental policy, and human rights.
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Due to her public profile and progressive stance, she repeatedly became the target of hate and agitation – especially in the digital space. Renate Künast was continuously harassed with sexualized and dehumanizing insults, rape threats, and misogynistic comments on social networks, particularly on Facebook. In 2019, extreme right activist Sven Liebich published a fake quote on Facebook that falsely attributed a statement to Künast.
The statement suggested that the politician had downplayed sexualized violence against children. Under this post, numerous hateful comments quickly gathered. Users called Künast names such as “dirty cunt,” “slut”, “piece of shit,” and “mentally ill.” Some comments contained explicit rape fantasies. Künast decided to take legal action against the insults. In early April 2019, the civil society organization HateAid began documenting the comments and supported Künast in the legal process.
In September 2019, Künast brought the case to the Berlin Regional Court together with HateAid, hoping the court would classify the 22 documented comments as unlawful and thus create grounds to identify the authors. However, the court initially ruled against her, stating the comments were permissible expressions of opinion. This decision caused nationwide outrage for downplaying digital violence. Künast filed an appeal, and in January 2020, the court reconsidered the case. The result was a partial success: six of the 22 comments were subsequently classified as unlawful, and Facebook was ordered to release the user‘s data. Künast went on to seek full recognition of all comments as criminal insults.
In March 2020, Berlin’s Higher Regional Court recognized six additional comments as unlawful, bringing the total to twelve. The remaining ten comments were still not pursued. In May 2020, she filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) to have the Higher Regional Court’s decision reviewed and to clarify the fundamental limits of freedom of expression online when it infringes upon personality rights. In February 2022, Künast achieved a historic success: the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the Higher Regional Court had violated her personality rights, as its previous decision did not meet constitutional requirements for balancing freedom of expression and personal rights. This cleared the way for a renewed review of all comments. In October 2022, the Higher Regional Court revised its decision and also recognized the last ten comments as unlawful.
After a three-year legal battle, all 22 comments were finally classified as criminal insults – a significant legal and societal victory. The case sent a strong signal regarding the handling of digital violence in Germany. Künast herself called it “a good day for democracy” on Twitter (now X). At the same time, the case revealed how burdensome, lengthy, and costly legal defense against digital violence can be for victims. Renate Künast told the news magazine DER SPIEGEL that she did not pursue the legal case for personal reasons.
Instead, she wanted to send a message to courts and public prosecutors to highlight the need to protect politically active people online. After the decision, she said on the public broadcasting service ZDF that it was “a ruling for everyone, for all those who are engaged”. Künast received extensive support from HateAid, which not only provided legal support but also drew the attention of society and the media to the case. Women’s rights organizations, many media outlets, and parts of civil society also stood behind her. Politically, the pressure increased to pursue digital violence more consistently and to protect victims better. The Federal Constitutional Court’s decision was seen as a historic milestone in the fight against online violence.
Resources:
- HateAid, 2023: “Voller Erfolg für Künast im Facebook-Verfahren.”
- Boehme-Neßler, 2019: “Hasskommentare: Widerlich und die Würde verletzend.”
- Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), 2022: “Verfassungsgericht setzt dem Hass im Netz Grenzen.”
- Kahl and Stein, 2022 “Was der Künast-Beschluss des Bundesverfassungsgerichts für den Rechtsschutz von Politikerinnen bedeutet.”
Collective Summary
The two cases of political violence against women serve to exemplify extreme cases of physical and digital semiotic violence. Both cases gathered widespread media attention and led to increased awareness about the subject in the broader public as well as politics with long-lasting effects.
Ágnes Kunhalmi
Case of Ágnes Kunhalmi (page 17): She has been a Hungarian Socialist Party member of the National Assembly since 2014. As the leader of an opposition party, Ms. Kunhalmi is a vocal critic of Fidesz and Orbán’s leadership.
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She participated in highly-publicized protests against the government in 2018 and was outspoken about her views on beating Orbán in the 2022 elections. For years, Ms. Kunhalmi has been the target of disinformation stories. At a 2016 press conference, Ms. Kunhalmi fell into a fit of laughter and sources such as the pro-government online media outlet Ripost were quick to accuse her of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
In 2018, posters were disseminated depicting Ms. Kunhalmi in a doctored photo of her wearing a headscarf and promising Arabic lessons for children, as well as depicting her as naked in a cartoon. That same year, an article published by Origo, a pro-government online media source, accused her of being more concerned with making jam, painting fences and sunbathing than taking political action. She was also accused of being “backed by George Soros,” a claim repeated elsewhere, and content posted on Facebook has accused her of lying about having been hospitalized for COVID-19.
Tímea Szabó
Case of Tímea Szabó (page 20): She was elected to the National Assembly in 2010. Following the 2014 elections, she became a member and co-president of the Green Party Dialogue for Hungary, leaving this role in July 2022. She has been vocal about her opposition to the regime since the beginning of Orbán’s rule.
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In 2015, László Kövér called Ms. Szabó an “internationally trained agent” because of her support of refugee rights. Similar claims continue to be made, and origo.hu recently alleged that she “not only represents openly foreign interests, but is also interested in destabilization.” Ms. Szabó has also been accused of being a part of the “Soros network,” or somehow tied to Soros, as well as being “involved in anti-Hungarian activities” and of receiving campaign financing from illegal sources in other countries. Ms. Szabó stated that she has received threats because of the media and the government‘s role in furthering disinformation and hate. She denounced the allegations of working against Hungary as an “artificially created case” designed to distract attention from the government’s failings.
Collective Summary
There are not many Hungarian case studies that examine violence against female politicians, and this remains an under-researched topic. As a result, most of what we know about the violence, harassment, and sexism faced by female politicians comes from newspaper articles, where either experts or the politicians themselves share their experiences.
The most important case study based on research was a 2023 report by Lucina Di Meco and Sarah Hesterman, published by #ShePersisted, which examines how gendered disinformation and online abuse are used systematically in Hungary to target women in politics, suppress women’s rights and to undermine democracy.
The report finds that female politicians and activists face extensive and organized harassment — ranging from misogynistic smear campaigns and sexualized disinformation to threats and doxxing — often amplified through social media platforms, especially Facebook. These platforms have failed to implement effective moderation or fact-checking mechanisms in Hungary, allowing the spread of gendered abuse with impunity.
The report notes that many of the most prominent critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s concentration of power are women, which makes them frequent targets of digital hate campaigns. As the authors put it, “it comes as no surprise that they have been at the center of his online disinformation and hate campaigns, which in turn are becoming an ever more prominent aspect of Hungary’s slide towards authoritarianism (page 4).”
The cases used are some illustrative examples from the report of how gendered disinformation has been viciously deployed against women politicians who challenge or oppose Fidesz.
Suzzie O’Deniyi
Suzzie O’Deniyi was a candidate in the local elections in 2024.
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Members of her canvassing team were accosted by a man who verbally abused them and they were subjected to racist, sexual and misogynistic abuse. The man filmed the aggressive encounter, and the clip went viral on social media. Ms O’Deniyi said that she was deeply outraged, upset and appalled by the racist and sexist verbal abuse received by her canvassers and described them as having been deeply traumatised by the incident and left fearful.
She also referenced numerous messages of support that she received from other candidates and members of the public. A man was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994. The judge ordered that he have no contact whatsoever, including via social media, with Suzzie O’Deniyi or her campaign team.
Mary Lou McDonald
Mary Lou McDonald is a member of parliament, leader of the Sinn Féin party and leader of the Opposition.
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In March 2025, a man pleaded guilty to posting videos in which he made threats to kill or harm Ms McDonald. The videos were viewed thousands of times and reposted across social media platforms. In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms McDonald said that, like others in the public eye, she had become accustomed to routine abuse, aggression and casual threats on social media, but that this was different. “The direct threat to shoot me, to shoot me ‘for free’, the open willingness to harm me himself, and the implicit willingness to harm me on behalf of another”. She said the threat was real and chilling and that she was afraid and angry, as was her family.
She said the threat caused her distress, anxiety and anger, but that she would allow any bully to stop her from doing her job. In sentencing the man, the judge described the threats as extreme and frightening and remarked that “contributions like this poison social discourse and give permission to certain individuals to behave in a certain violent way, particularly to public individuals”. He imposed a three and a half year prison sentence, with the final 15 months suspended on strict conditions.
Lisa Chambers
Lisa Chambers is a former Senator and member of parliament.
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In 2024 a man was arrested on suspicion of stalking her while she was still serving as a Senator. He was arrested after being found outside the home of a relative of Ms Chambers, hiding in a bush in a state of undress with his belt removed and trousers undone. While Ms Chambers didn’t comment publicly on the incident, sources close to her said she found the incident deeply distressing and her family were also said to be extremely concerned. In the past Ms Chambers had spoken about experiences of herself and other female politicians revealing that she once received a handwritten rape threat reflecting that she hadn’t reported it at the time but that she should have.
Anne Rabbitte
Anne Rabbitte is a Senator and previously served as a member of parliament and Minister of State.
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In October 2024, a man was convicted of assault in relation to an incident that occurred in January 2023 when he threw a bag of cow excrement at Anne Rabbitte while she was speaking at a public meeting. The judge imposed 60 hours of community service in lieu of a three-month prison term for the assault on Ms Rabbitte. The judge imposed the sanction, observing that the assault was “at the lower end” and he described Mr Baldwin in court as “a community-spirited individual” having read a Probation Report and three testimonials handed into court. However, the judge also observed that the behaviour was “not acceptable at a public meeting and not acceptable for public representatives to endure that type of behaviour no matter who they are or what they are.” He said that public representative “must be able to go along to such meetings and feel safe”.
Lucia Plaváková
Whereas there has been little progress by political parties or the national parliamentary assembly and its institutions, media coverage of instances of VAWP are and have been instrumental in awareness-raising about the barriers and challenges that women in politics face and its consequences on their professional and private lives.
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The five-year mandate of Slovakia’s first women president Zuzana Čaputová between 2019 and 2024 marked the biggest milestone in women’s representation and participation in politics and decisionmaking, but also openly addressed VAWP and its consequences exemplified in Čaputová’s decision not to run for second term as president. She explained her decision by not having enough strength to sustain constant attacks against herself and her close family, including her children, for another 5 years and she openly discussed her experiences in media appearances, broaching the topic of VAWP, which sparked wider societal discussion.
In summer of 2024, several long-read articles and interviews with women politicians representing different political parties were published. In an interview published by Denník N, women politicians shared their worst experiences as well as their coping mechanisms and whether they are motivated to continue in their political work. A shared narrative among the interviewed women was mention of attacks on their families and children as being particularly difficult to deal with and as having immense impact on their willingness and motivation to continue in their political work (Tódová, 2024). Another common experience included the coordinated attacks on social media of women politicians, when a certain event, social media post or a press conference by oppositional politician or well-known figure would incite a wave of violence and attacks. This attests to the use of VAWP as a tool for political gain and at the same time to push women out of the public sphere.
The women also shared strategies of how they limited their exposure to online harassment, hate and violence, for example by having their assistants go through their mailbox, inbox and comments first and remove inappropriate and offensive content. This underscores the lack of institutionalised reporting mechanisms or support and complete individualisation of responsibility to deal with VAWP dependent on their resources – human, emotional, financial and time. There have been several other instances when VAWP was publicly addressed and gained media attention and wider societal support. One incident involved discrimination and harassment of the oppositional MP Lucia Plaváková, when she was ordered to leave the parliamentary assembly and accused of displaying commercials in the form of an LGBTQ+ flag sticker on her notebook (display of commercial symbols in the assembly is forbidden by the Rules of Procedure).
This was considered discriminatory as Plaváková is an LGBTQ+ community member and an outspoken advocate for queer rights by Plaváková and a number of other MPs. The incident further escalated and was discussed in multiple press conferences of different political parties and in one of them, another MP from the Slovak National Party, Rudolf Huliak, said: “This woman doesn’t deserve to be called anything other than a bitch,” and further said he doesn’t even consider her a woman, connected to her support of a women’s right to terminate pregnancy.
Following this, Plaváková took a number of steps, including reporting the incident and violence against her and her daughter that it caused to the police by filing a lawsuit on personality protection against Huliak and also submitted a complaint to the constitutional court for discrimination and for banning her from the parliamentary assembly and together with her party members they initiated disciplinary proceedings against Huliak by the Mandate and Immunity Committee and also attempted to remove Huliak from the post of Chairman of the National Council‘s committee on agriculture and the environment. This incident illustrates the complex and intersectional violence that women politicians experience and its widespread consequences in the offline and online world on their professional and personal lives.
Plaváková was attacked, harassed and discriminated against for being a member of the queer community in very violent public display of dehumanisation and also attacked for her values of LGBTQ+ and pro-choice rights. She was also prevented from being able to fulfil her mandate as an MP. At the same time, the event unified the oppositional political parties who held a press conference and rejected the violence and sparked a supportive action in the form of petition Let’s say no to harassment and humiliation of women, which was started by Holečková, an MP from the Freedom and Solidarity party and signed by a number of both female and male members of parliament and public figures.26 In reaction, some members of the Government Council for Human Rights, National Minorities and Gender Equality submitted a resolution condemning the increasing violations of good manners and parliamentary behaviour and the discrimination and harassment of Plaváková in particular and demanding that Huliak is held accountable. Based on a statement by one member of the Council, the planned session did not take place and thus the resolution was not adopted.
As of May 2025, it is not known what are the official outcomes of the court procedures, but proceedings have started. The parliamentary institutions and the Mandate and Immunity Committee have decided that there has been no breach of protocol and no disciplinary actions against Huliak have been taken. In March 2025, Huliak has been named the Minister for Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation, underscoring the general acceptance and tolerance of discriminatory behaviour and violence and harassment of women in public roles, despite its clear rejection by some.
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Zuzana Čaputová
Zuzana Čaputová was the youngest and the first women president of the Slovak Republic in the years 2019-2024. She ran for election supported by the Progressive Slovakia party following a successful career as lawyer and activist, where she became known as the face of successful public campaign against a toxic landfill near residential area.
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Both during her campaign and her presidency, she advocated for and supported values of democracy, inclusion, social justice and equality. She described herself as the president of the people and oftentimes actively disagreed with government’s legislative proposals or actions.
Background:
Čaputová’s presidential campaign and subsequent presidency was marked by a series of crises and events, which significantly influenced the political and social environment. During the presidential campaign, the investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova were assassinated, which sparked protests and resulted in restructuring of the government, with the Prime Minister Fico stepping down. The period between 2020 and 2023 was also marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. This background and contextual information is crucial for understanding the scope and nature of violence which was aimed at Čaputová. Čaputová was thus targeted by representatives of the then leading party SMER, especially after the 2020 parliamentary election, when they were in opposition and later again after winning the 2023 parliamentary election. Čaputová was also targeted by some representatives of the 2020-2023 government for criticising some of government’s actions or vetoing legislation.
Perpetrators and forms of violence:
Zuzana Čaputová was repeatedly harassed by public figures, including governmental officials, MPs, both coalitional and oppositional party leaders and by the general public. The violence was often perpetrated on social media, but also in press or during public events or press conferences. She was also often targeted by disinformation media channels who published untrue information, but also published images altered by AI, where was made to appear weighing more, one image showed her with a bigger and differently shaped nose and manipulated pictures from political visits where she appeared bored and disgusted were also shared. Several deepfake videos were circulated aimed at political manipulation (Struhárik, 2023). There have been several incidents when she received death threats, was sent bullets in an envelope and once a person entered her private property. The most common types of VAWP Čaputová experienced was psychological violence and physical violence, which included threats (Benedikovičová, 2024).
The harassment and violence she experienced exhibits several characteristic features: complex and coordinated patterns of violence, where well-known public figures with great following would accuse Čaputová of some wrongdoing and at times incite (both directly and indirectly) their followers to also harass her. This resulted in complex layers of violent content – in the comment sections of accounts of political parties or public figures or under articles, but also Čaputová’s email, public profiles or even letterbox in her residency or the presidential palace. These experiences and patterns also demonstrate the online-offline continuum of VAWP, where it is difficult to clearly distinguish between individual experiences of violence in the online and offline space, as they might be interconnected and feed into each other.
Several key narratives repeatedly used for the harassment can be identified:
- Claims and accusations that Čaputová is a foreign agent or sponsored by a foreign government or influential figures – most prominently the US government and George Soros and she is following their instructions.
- In this context, she was often called explicit names, such as American prostitute or whore, on one occasion then party leader Fico likened her to a rat, which is an example of dehumanisation (Kéry, 2023).
- Similar claims were linked to her supposed support of NATO and attacks that certain geopolitical decisions would threaten the security of the country and thus accusing her of being a traitor.
- Čaputová was often accused of spreading and supporting gender ideology and promoting migration, both of which were linked to threats for the country’s security.
One of the most severe incidents of VAWP took place during a rally organised by the then oppositional party SMER-SSD for 1st of May celebrations in 2022, where one of key party figures asked the crowd to say what they think about the president and repeatedly calling American and the crowd responding with “American whore” several times (Kyseľ, 2022).
Another medialised incident of cyber violence involved Čaputová’s underage daughter, who was targeted and attacked by the MP Tomas Taraba following her participation in fashion show in 2021. In this attack he shared her images with the comment: “We have a new top model in Slovakia.” Comments under this post ridiculed her appearance and implied that her participation in the fashion show was due to her being the daughter of president.
This incident caused a wave of harassment and abuse against president and her daughter. In response Čaputová issued a statement on her social media channel: “Attacking a politician over his or her children is a political low. MP Taraba would never have been interested in my daughter if it was not related to my position. Human malice and stupidity is what I have to face in life, but leave my children out of it!” (Hyriaková, 2024). This incident underscores that women politicians are often harassed for their personal lives and roles as mothers.
Responses:
Despite Čaputová’s general belief that public political figures are subjected to greater scrutiny and also must tolerate a greater degree of criticism, on several occasions she filed a personality protection lawsuits against several political figures for publishing and spreading untrue information with the goal of inciting to strong negative emotions and further violence, specifically against Fico (Osvaldová, 2023) and Blaha (Osvaldová, 2022). The lawsuit was filed in reaction to being accused of being a foreign agent and following foreign orders. The court ruled in her favour twice and also ordered Blaha to delete the social media content without delay.
Moreover, Čaputová raised awareness about the nature and scope of VAWP she experiences as lawyer, presidential candidate and president and its consequences openly and publicly, especially after announcing that she will not run for second term. This sparked a wider societal debate on VAWP in Slovakia (as discussed in section 5. On media). The experiences of VAWP that Čaputová faced were rejected by many Slovak or foreign political and public figures and many expressed their support. During her term in office, she also drew attention to violence against women in general, by visiting specialist support services for victims of violence, organising a public campaign for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (TASR, 2023). and by creating the platform We are Here, with the aim of building a community of allies who fight against VAW and its acceptance, announced on the occasion of International Women‘s Day (Aktuality, 2024).
Consequences:
The most significant consequence of the exposure to VAWP was Čaputová’s decision not to run for second term of presidency, where she specifically mentioned the harassment and violence against her and fear for her family as some of the main reasons. This underscores that VAWP can result in women’s withdrawal from politics as well as potentially discourage other women from entering politics after witnessing the harassment and abuse. Further consequences include interruptions of day-to-day and family life as Čaputová retold the aftermath of somebody breaking onto the private property, consequences of fearing for one’s life as aftermath of death threats, reputational damage, emotional, financial and time resources for building a case and bringing a lawsuit against individuals.
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Collective Summary
Case studies demonstrate the intersectionality of VAWP, combining homophobia, misogyny, discrimination and repression of political participation and its possible consequences of complete withdrawal from politics. These high-profile case studies sparked societal and media discourse and in some cases cross-party and societal solidarity and support, but institutional redress and accountability for perpetrators was limited and often obstructed.
