Mainstreaming, Gender and Communication in Serbia

In this report, we provide an overview of gendered radicalisation traits in Serbia. We focus on four case studies which allow us to encompass wide range of male agencies, from holders of power and members of the political elite, to the YouTube personalities, as well as to study how ordinary individuals interact and communicate with reports on male violence and misogyny. The also allow us to study the attempts to counter these narratives though de-radicalisation by groups and by citizens in the context of online communication.

The results show how both traditional media, as well as online platforms, are being used to reproduce misogyny and gendered radicalisation through entanglement of various actors, from media and politics personalities, to ordinary users, which often shape interpretation of the news and create the narratives of male victimisation. In the last eight years, agents of deradicalisation against misogyny have been particularly strong in Serbia, often forming semi-permanent collectives with clear vision of women-centred activism. I have been able to show their agency through responses to toxic masculine incidents and male violence which I follow in the case studies. Finally, I have shown how individual, ordinary users, also create media content on online platforms as a reaction to male violence.