Gendertrolling is correlated with both hostile sexism & social dominance orientation but neither variable is a unique predictor; significantly related to physical sadism, is motivated less by sexism than believed

Gendertrolls just want to have fun, too. AmandaPaananen, Arleigh J. Reichl. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 141, 15 April 2019, Pages 152-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.01.011

Abstract: Previous research suggests online trolls choose their victims at random, and are motivated by sadistic tendencies. Gendertrolling, however, is directed specifically toward women (and those perceived as feminists or social justice warriors) and is often part of an organized effort to silence their voices. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine if gendertrolling is predicted by hostile sexism and social dominance orientation, rather than the sadism underlying random trolling. Male participants (N = 347) were recruited online from highly trollable websites, including Youtube, Reddit, 4chan, and Amazon Mechanical Turk, and were asked to complete a series of personality and attitude inventories. As predicted, gendertrolling was correlated with both hostile sexism and social dominance orientation; however, a regression analysis showed neither variable was a unique predictor. Instead, gendertrolling was significantly related to random trolling, and both types of trolling were related to sadism, particularly physical sadism. Therefore, gendertrolling is evidently motivated less by sexism than is commonly believed.