Gender Inequality in Social Media

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Throughout history, gender inequality is reflected in different aspects of life, whether related to education, work, or any social standards. In modern society influenced by social media platforms, there is inequality towards women and girls regarding their activity on the Internet. While the male population can use the Internet to its fullest, women and girls are encouraged to produce certain sexually related content and, at the same time, are being shamed for it.

There are social stereotypes that even these days imply women being inferior to men. As women are considered subordinate, their sexual objectification becomes normal in the society that takes it for granted (Ringrose et al. 306). Under the pressure of stereotypes, women tend to create sexually oriented content, which is then being shared and forwarded through the Internet. Eventually, that content is considered to undermine women’s virtue and can be used to shame them.

As the perception of the world forms at a young age, the controversies regarding digital sexual communication can be looked at from the perspective of teenage girls. Research shows that young people engage in a digital flirtation with a sexual undertone for entertainment since this type of communication is an important part of “drama” among their peers (Ringrose et al. 308). With sexting becoming more popular among teenagers, its influence on young people and society in general increases as well.

Every person wants to be accepted by society, and sometimes people are willing to do something that makes them uncomfortable to avoid being excluded. Research shows that teenagers from the age of thirteen use social media to discuss the physical appearances of girls and exchange images with sexual content (Ringrose et al. 311). Boys expect girls to have “big bum, nice breasts, and long hair”; however, they do not discuss their male friends in such a way, which can show a tendency to heteronormativity (Ringrose et al. 310).

If girls do not want to send their intimate photos, they cannot simply say “no” and have to make excuses, so they do not “fall out” with people (Ringrose et al. 311). To not be rejected by their peers, girls cannot stop engaging in sexting even if they know that their appearances will be discussed by others.

As girls typically engage in digital sexual communication to be accepted by others, boys do that to gain more popularity. Boys exchange pictures of girls, especially their breasts, to earn popularity ratings; however, boys usually do not send their photos if asked (Ringrose et al. 313). If girls send their pictures to a boy, it shows his power to persuade and gains him more respect (Ringrose et al. 313). In such a situation, a boy is not interested in a girl as a person but rather wants to prove his masculinity over others.

While exchanging intimate pictures can be somewhat consensual, girls who do so are not highly regarded among their peers. Girls tend to think of those who share their photos as sexually active and those who do not respect themselves (Ringrose et al. 314). Girls blame other girls for taking intimate pictures but are not as eager to blame boys for “making it worse by spreading it” (Ringrose et al. 315). Teenage boys typically do not care about the girls while exchanging photos, whereas girls who do not participate in such activities shame those who do.

As teenagers can form groups depending on their sexting activity, sexual objectification of the female body continues increasing. Teenage girls from the age of fourteen become interested in taking quizzes that identify them as “sexy, flirty, or a slut” or determine them as some type of “sexual fantasy” (Gill and Scharff 105). In an environment like that, girls have to constantly decide how to act, so they do not seem “slutty” but are still desirable by others (Gill and Scharff 106).

For example, some people say that posting on social media pictures in bikinis on holiday is acceptable, whereas posting photos in underwear is not (Gill and Scharff 107). However, even girls who are against sexting tend to post only those photos where they look good, hiding parts of their appearances that others would not positively accept.

To summarize, envisioning a world where teen girls could unproblematically take and share images of their breasts is difficult at this moment. Since sexual objectification of the female body is common among teenagers and adults, overcoming it is a complicated process. Moreover, there are obstacles that prevent gender parity from existing in the world of social media. The first obstacle is related to general stereotypes regarding gender inequality that make men look superior, thus making women underlooked. Another obstacle can refer to social standards such as physical appearance having more value than a person’s identity.

One more obstacle is the accessibility of social media to teenagers that allows them to share sexually oriented content influencing their perception of a person’s worth. Girls and boys, women and men have to be treated equally and appreciated not by the way their bodies look but by who they are.

Works Cited

Gill, Rosalind, and Christina Scharff, editors. New Femininities: Postfeminism, Neoliberalism and Subjectivity. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Ringrose, Jessica, et al. “Teen Girls, Sexual Double Standards and ‘Sexting’: Gendered Value in Digital Image Exchange.” Feminist Theory, vol. 14, no. 3, 2013, pp. 305-323.

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