Reported school bullying cases in Malaysia nearly doubled from 2022 to 2024, with experts linking the rise to harmful online misogynistic discourse
MALAYSIA’S schools are facing a stark and disturbing crisis. Reported bullying cases surged from 3,887 in 2022 to 7,681 in 2024 – nearly a 100% increase in just two years.
The alarming rise in school violence has sparked an important conversation among parents, educators and the wider public. These incidents are not isolated; they point to a growing wave of violence increasingly shaped by gendered online discourse.
Yet, one dimension that has yet to be articulated is the linguistic and discursive roots of this phenomenon. Language that circulates in online spaces, including misogynistic content, plays a critical role in shaping attitudes and behaviours that manifest in physical and verbal aggression within schools.
Research shows a link between exposure to misogynistic content online and aggressive behaviours among youths.
A 2025 study of 200 teachers found that 76% of secondary and 60% of primary school educators in the UK are concerned about the spread of online misogyny in schools. Teachers reported that male students often mimic online influencers, making sexist remarks or behaving violently towards peers and school staff.
Online platforms can become fertile grounds for gendered hate speech and extremist views towards women. Linguistics professor Deborah Cameron warns that social media is fuelling a new wave of misogyny as it perpetuates dehumanising language and normalises aggression against women and girls.
It goes without saying that constant and repeated exposure to misogynistic discourse can harm women and girls. In online echo chambers, misogynistic rhetoric is reproduced through memes, comments and posts that normalise derogatory language towards women and girls, framing them as inferior and hypersexualised. These social media interactions amplify harmful ideologies that legitimise all forms of aggression towards women.
Schools are institutions of values and spaces for shaping future citizens. When students internalise misogynistic views, they reproduce them in peer interactions. This can manifest in forms of verbal harassment, bullying and physical violence.
Research shows that language is not neutral and can be deployed as a tool of dominance. When boys are socialised into asserting dominance through sexist jokes or slurs, these linguistic acts become precursors to physical acts of aggression.
Moreover, the normalisation of violence against women and girls can be found in phrases that seem innocent: “Boys will be boys”, “She asked for it”, “Who asked her to dress that way?” These phrases allow an environment in which accountability is diluted, shifting blame away from perpetrators and aggressors onto victims. In doing so, they perpetuate a cycle of harm.
Punitive measures have resurfaced as a suggested solution to address school violence. However, addressing school violence demands us as a society to confront the uncomfortable reality that the language we speak contributes in sustaining gendered hierarchies and harm towards women and girls.
Our youths must be taught to recognise harmful discourses so they know when to challenge them. If we want safer schools, we must begin by questioning the words that shape our world. We must question potentially harmful content that is fed to our children by algorithms.
Violence against women in all forms is preventable. The words we use and consume matter. In December 2025, the Oxford English Dictionary named “rage bait” as the word of the year.
Defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account”, this concept speaks directly to the culture that fuels online misogyny.
Social media algorithms that amplify “rage bait” content, including sexist memes, normalise aggression and hatred towards women. Hostile, dehumanising language that is used online can translate into real-world harm.
When language becomes a focal point in reform efforts, we can uproot harmful misogynistic narratives that incubate violence against women and girls.
Schools, parents and communities must work together to challenge harmful language, educate young people about respect and equality and advocate for policies that protect women and girls.
We need to build a culture where every child feels safe and valued. And change starts with us.
Dr Nik Nur Ainin Soffiya Nik Mat is a senior lecturer in the Department of English Language, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
