#rp19 speaker Sigi Maurer: "It's the patriarchy, stupid"

Sigi Maurer, member of the Austrian parliament’s faction of the Green party from 2013 to 2017, received extremely sexist, humiliating hate messages from the owner of a Viennese craftbeer shop on Facebook last year. In the absence of legal alternatives, she defended herself by publishing screenshots of the messages, including the name of the sender. The latter sued Sigi Maurer for defamation, demanded 60,000 euros in compensation - and won. The Vienna Appeal Court has now overturned Maurer's conviction.

Solidarity with Maurer was immense: a crowdfunding campaign for a legal aid fund for those affected by online hate speech generated 100,000 euros within 38 hours - two thirds of the donors were men. On social media, too, a great number of men showed solidarity.

In her keynote speech at #rp19, Sigi Maurer will explain why this wave of solidarity itself reproduced patriarchal patterns. She will use examples to demonstrate to what extent patriarchal ideas can be found in messages that are meant to express solidarity and why these declarations of solidarity are good – but not enough to fight misogyny.

You can find Sigi Maurer’s session here.