Deepfakes, disinformation, and defiance

How women in politics are pushing back against Al and honour-based attacks

- By Divya THOTAWATTE

WHEN Dumali Shashikala Dayaratne (82) first entered local politics at 24, her old social media photos, some dating back to school, were enough to unleash waves of trolling. A dress worn in her private life was twisted into evidence of being ‘indecent’ and ‘unfit for leadership’.

Today, as deepfakes — synthetic media created using artificial intelligence — and doctored images flood Sri Lanka’s online spaces, these shame-based attacks have grown sharper, targeting not only women’s credibility, but their very right to participate in politics.

For women leaders, every choice of clothing, lifestyle, or expression risks being weaponised, and the rise of AI has only magnified these dangers, threatening to silence voices before they can be heard.

“People expect women in politics to always dress in sarees, kurtas, or in a certain way. If you wear something different, even in your private life, or live in a way that doesn’t match that expected image, they will use it against you,” said Dayaratne.

“You have to be careful because... even wearing a dress or something shorter can lead to being labelled as loose, indecent, and uneducated.”

This preoccupation with “virtue” is also a reflection of Sri Lanka’s wider honour culture, where a woman’s respectability is seen as tied to her family’s reputation and her suitability for leadership.

Targeting women

In politics, this becomes a constant surveillance of women’s attire, lifestyle, sexuality, and private choices. Where respectability is treated as political capital in Sri Lanka, women’s credibility is judged hardly by their policies or performance, but by their conformity to gendered codes of behaviour. Honour becomes political currency, and any deviation is weaponised to discredit their work, achievements, and positions.