The phrase “your body, my choice” has spread across social media platforms in the wake of the Nov. 5 presidential election — and experts warn that the rhetoric could have lasting detrimental effects on society.

It’s just one of many misogynistic — strongly prejudiced against women — comments Alicia Marva said she’s seen online since President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive win over Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It’s so disgusting it makes my stomach hurt,” said Marva, 24, a former auto mechanic from Homestead.

Such comments have been trending online since last week, experts said. Calls for women to “get back to the kitchen” peaked right after the election. Mentions of “your body, my choice” continued rising, according to analysis from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a national nonprofit that advocates policies to fight extremism.

The term “my body, my choice” is a feminist phrase that’s been around for over half a century and is used to express support for bodily autonomy.

Reproductive rights was a key topic in both candidate’s platforms, with Harris promising to reinstate Roe v. Wade, and Trump pledging to leave reproductive rights up to the states.

Among the increase in disparaging comments targeted toward women post-election, some have reported men commenting “your body, my choice” or other reproductive rights remarks on their social media posts — whether the posts are about reproductive rights or not.

Nicole Molinaro, president and CEO of the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, one of four domestic violence programs and hotlines serving Allegheny County, said she believes the comments aren’t just about reproductive rights.

“It’s related to abortion for sure, absolutely, but I think it’s a much bigger threat to our daily existence — and that’s how it’s intended,” she said, calling the rhetoric disturbing. “It’s really gaining traction now.”

Going viral

The surge comes after Nick Fuentes, an American far-right political pundit and livestreamer known for his history of antisemitic and misogynistic remarks, wrote on the social media platform X “Your body, my choice. Forever,” following Trump’s victory.

Fuentes’ original post on X has garnered approximately 52,000 likes, 36,000 reposts, 21,000 comments and 94 million impressions on the app.

Your body, my choice. Forever.

— Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes) November 6, 2024

There was a 4,600% increase in mentions of that phrase and other similar expressions on X within 24 hours of the election results, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

Hate speech has increased and become more unfiltered online since the election results were announced, according to Jessica Ghilani, associate professor of communication and social media researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.

“It’s sort of a race to see who can say the most offensive thing,” Ghilani said. “If your content takes off, it doesn’t matter if it makes people happy or angry.”

Ghilani said there’s no governmental regulation of social media platforms, and all speech on them is covered by the First Amendment.

“There’s no prevailing recommendations or laws about it — the platforms set their own terms of service,” she said, and rules can vary.

When billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk bought the platform and renamed it X, he fired 80% of the engineers dedicated to trust and safety, eliminating checks and balances that were in place for hate speech.

Musk reinstated X accounts for Fuentes and Trump, as well as other accounts that had previously been taken down for violating of the company’s rules.

“I got the sense that a lot of those provisions toward content moderation, toward hate speech were going away,” Ghilani said.“There clearly was not a space for that kind of rhetoric in the past. The fact that it has been shifted in this way … really does speak to a kind of backlash against some of the ways that these platforms were exhibiting content moderation because of public upset.”

Jessie Ramey, director of the Women’s Institute at Chatham University and an associate professor of women and gender studies and history, said this type of speech is nothing new.

“I think what we’re seeing is a manifestation of a much older form of sexual harassment and sexism so this isn’t new, but the phrase is new, and it comes to us from this most recent campaign cycle,” Ramey said.

Trump was recorded in 2005 bragging about grabbing women sexually without permission. The recordings aired publicly during his first successful presidential campaign in 2016.

Ramey said the rise of social media over the last 10 years has given almost an outsize voice to those putting out misogynistic and violent messages.

“Our mothers and grandmothers before us did have to deal with similar kinds of sentiments, but they were not always as easily viewed, particularly by young people,” Ramey said.

“When we’re talking about these statements emboldening misogynists and just people who already have a reason to dislike women — when you already have that sort of basis, it’s a very small and slippery slope to using violence against your partner,” she said.

Since the election, the shelter’s 24/7 hotline, which takes about 5,000 crisis callers per year, has received steadier calls, according to Molinaro.

In 2016 after Trump’s election, Molinaro said survivors came into the shelter talking about how abusers felt “emboldened by the president.” Language has consequences, she said.

“They’re called influencers for a reason,” she said of the people making these posts. “They are influencing the boys and men in our lives to act in a way that is anything from unhealthy to immoral to illegal.”

In Westmoreland County, Kristin Malone-Bodair, education outreach program manager at the Blackburn Center, said she’s unable to determine if there’s been an increase in crisis line calls post-election, as calls are quantified at the end of each month.

The Blackburn Center, based in Greensburg, is an anti-violence organization that provides services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, as well as other types of violence and crime.

Amid the rhetoric, women aren’t going to feel like they have a voice in their communities — and in their country, according to Malone-Bodair, which may lead to an increase in relationship and sexual violence as well.

“I think we need to think about respecting everybody, no matter what, after the election,” she said. “It’s really important that young people understand the gravity of words and how they can influence.”

Marva said she’s noticed most of the rhetoric on X. She believes some of the comments could incite violence.

“It just is crazy,” she said. “My biggest concern as a mom is the fact that it might resonate into more violence in real life.”

Threat of danger

Aside from the violence these types of comments threaten, another large concern is how easily young people can be exposed to them. Scholars are concerned about the impact the messages are having on young adults, middle schoolers and high schoolers, Ramey said.

“The statement itself is a violent threat,” Ramey said. “Even if people are copying that language and not fully understanding what they’re saying, we have to treat it seriously.”

Ghilani said she’s heard firsthand about how young boys are now being confrontational or threatening toward girls as early as middle school.

“As a mom of a middle schooler, that is chilling,” she said. “It’s not just words — we want to think about sticks and stones — we have evidence in the past of people kind of normalizing hate through these spaces that allow it to thrive in language and then convert it into action.”

Ramey pointed to the Pyramid of Harm, also known as the Rape Culture Pyramid, when explaining how violent rhetoric can escalate to physical attacks. Statements such as “your body, my choice,” are at the bottom of the pyramid. If those phrases are normalized or go unchecked, a pathway is formed to acts of harm and violence which are placed at the top of the pyramid.

“Gender scholars who have been looking at gender-based violence prevention will say that’s why we have to take these statements seriously,” Ramey said.

Leaving this type of speech unchecked can lend to an accumulation of gender-based violence and lead to marginalized groups to feel unwanted, unsafe and left out in spaces such as school or work, Ramey said.

As someone with some trauma in this department, I'm horrifically saddened by all of the emboldened men on social media right now.

Seeing threats like this and "Your body, MY choice" over and over on posts, TikToks, etc…

My heart aches. pic.twitter.com/1WPObmjvcp

— Cahlaflour (@Cahlaflour) November 7, 2024

Russell Fenton, 51, of Ligonier, said he doesn’t think people using the phrase “your body, my choice” understand the gravity of the words. He reached out to TribLive after the election to offer his thoughts.

“I personally don’t think any man should have a say on what a woman does,” Fenton said. “It’s mostly guys saying that, and I think they just hear it and repeat it and don’t even think about what it means.”

While some may be seeking an online reaction, Fenton said that threats and phrases like this can hurt others.

“The best end result would be for someone to understand what their words mean and how it can affect the other person — how it can affect them by saying damaging words,” Fenton said.

Lack of respect

In addition to coining the phrase “your body, my choice,” Fuentes also made derogatory comments while livestreaming during election night coverage — cursing at women and claiming that “there will never be a female president.” 

@agatha.catchrain They’re telling women to stop being dramatic, and meanwhile this happens. Not only does a guy like Nick J Fuentes shares his beliefs, but school boys across the country have been reported of chanting these words to girls at school. There is so much disrespect #notallmenbutallwomen #notallmenbutenough #4b #womenoftiktok #trumpwins #womensrights #yourbodyourchoice ♬ original sound – Agatha Catchrain |????????????

Fuentes is no stranger to inflammatory speech. Following the 2020 presidential election, he became a prominent figure in the “Stop the Steal” movement. According to 2022 congressional testimony from the Anti-Defamation League, before the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021, he suggested killing legislators who were unwilling to overturn the election results.

In November 2022, Fuentes was invited to dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. In 2023, Fuentes was hosted by Pale Horse Strategies, a Texas-based conservative consulting group, for a meeting. The group has donated millions of dollars to top Texas Republican officials, according to The Texas Tribune.

women threatening sex strikes like LMAO as if you have a say

— Jon Miller (@MillerStream) November 6, 2024

Marva said she’s noticed that women are continuously disrespected, but the comments post-election are exacerbating the situation.

Though Trump will be the first president to take office with several criminal cases pending against him, BBC News reported, many of his legal problems will go away when he begins his tenure. At least 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct since the 1970s, according to Business Insider.

Trump has not been criminally convicted of rape or predatory behavior, but he has been found “legally responsible” in a civil trial for an assault on writer E. Jean Carroll by a New York court.

Marva said seeing Trump elected amid pending criminal cases and previous sexual assault allegations is frustrating.

And Trump is proof that rape allegations can’t ruin a man’s life, according to Marva.

“I feel like it also makes women feel like they can’t come out and speak,” she said.

Ghilani said she doesn’t expect social media platforms to change their guidelines any time soon, as in the past, it’s only been brought about by congressional testimony or public outcry. An example is when a Facebook whistleblower came forward in 2021 to discuss how misinformation on the platform was harming children.

“I don’t have a lot of hope for the platforms to do it of their own volition because they haven’t in the past,” she said. “Our digital wellbeing ties to our emotional wellbeing, and if you’re seeing things that are making you feel stressed out, we don’t need to fuel this by giving it more attention.”

Ramey said the most effective form of gender violence prevention is peer intervention.

“We need men all in, right now in this moment,” Ramey said. “That’s where I would like to see us spending most of our time rather than — once again — trying to tell women and girls it’s their job to arm themselves and to prevent this.”

The only way misogynistic rhetoric will be toned down is by confronting it, Molinaro said.

“We need for the good men and boys to stand up and when they hear this kind of language, know it’s not a joke, know that it’s not to be dismissed as locker room talk,” she said. “It is critical to stand up in whatever forum you hear this misogynistic language and say, ‘That’s not OK.’”