by Allison Peguero
Allison Peguero is a biology major from Malden, MA. The inspiration for her research is having often “witnessed the hate women receive when sharing their interests and passions online.” Allison feels that this conduct has been “normalized” online and in social media. She also finds it interesting to witness the way people conduct themselves online versus the way they truly are offline. This juxtaposition inspired her essay “to not only explore this topic further, but to analyze how this connects with the misogyny that I and many other women have experienced online.” The freedom to pursue her interest in this topic, and to find her own niche, was one of the most enjoyable parts of the writing process and it allowed her to “improve critical thinking skills and write with confidence and discipline.” Allison has always enjoyed writing and is passionate about her education. She loves being able to “explore different subject matters, and join conversations, even those that don’t have clear answers.”
With the development of the digital age, the spread and growth of social media has had wondrous effects on the way humans can interact with each other; fans and stars are being able to communicate far easier than ever. Furthermore, the increasing popularity of social media has allowed for previously unpopular sports to gain popularity. For instance, skateboarding. What was once seen as little more than a hobby, has gained enough acclaim to even be incorporated into the Olympic games, and one can credit a part of this development to the increased visibility social media has brought skateboarding. However, social media does not only bring awareness to talents and praise; it has also led to a concerning trend to be found in the way femininity in activities and sports is treated by those on social media. In this essay, I will be writing about the effects social media has had on the online treatment faced by women in athletic activities, and whether this is a reflection of society’s true feelings regarding women, or rather just a reflection of the tendency for social media to boost loud opinions and commenters.
The increasing growth of social media and its impact on the way online figures are treated, and content is consumed, has heightened the need to further understand the effect this may have on women in increased positions of visibility. One can look at skateboarding in the media as an example. Brigid McCarthy claims that “online abuse occurs in the same space where competitive skateboarding is consumed” and seeing as “skateboarding is a male domain” this may “result in reputational harm to women skaters and skateboarding itself” (376). The online consumption of skateboarding as a sport allows ample opportunity for audiences to spread online hate and abuse towards female skateboarders. At the same time that the online spread and consumption of sports and athletics have allowed for women to have a larger platform, the audience’s influence has also grown with the new digital age. This means that, although women now have more media recognition, misogynistic comments and hate have begun to spread easily in comment sections and social media.
Before beginning this essay, I feel it is important to begin with certain aspects of social media and why they are important to this conversation regarding the online treatment of women in sports, and other activities of the like, by society. Firstly, many of the general public believe that social media has the tendency to bolster the presence of echo chambers. An echo chamber, which Dimitar Nikolov and colleagues choose to explore, is a term used to describe an environment in which one is confronted with only ideas that they already agree with and believe in. The presence of these echo chambers leads to these ideas going unchallenged. These echo chambers are thought to be an issue caused by social media using algorithms to tailor content to a user’s preference. For instance, if one were to create a TikTok account that primarily liked and saved videos centered around cooking, the app would recommend mainly cooking videos to this account due to the algorithm boosting videos that suit a user’s preferences and past likes. This can be beneficial, like in the previous example surrounding cooking, since the algorithm could lead to people being able to delve deeper into harmless interests while being recommended entertaining content. However, this concept is important to keep in mind when discussing the treatment of women athletes on social media, as the algorithms found on social media can boost not only entertaining ideas but also harmful ones to a user.
It is essential to note that social media is still relatively new, meaning that it is still up for debate whether social media truly encourages echo chambers and the true effects that this may have on society. As Nikolov et al. states, there is “quantitative support of online social bubbles,” with social bubbles referring to echo chambers, there still remains “the question of whether our reliance on technology for information access is fostering polarization” (11). Due to how fresh social media is, it is not enough to solely claim that social media has a tendency to create echo chambers. It is difficult to understand the true effects of these “social bubbles” and requires more research, time, and discussion.
As previously mentioned, skateboarding is a good example to look at when discussing the treatment of women in athletic activities by online users. It is important to note that skateboarding is considered a male-dominated sport; thus, it is possible that much of the online discourse surrounding the consumption of skateboarding is going to be a largely masculine audience. Through social media, the “sportification” of skateboarding has “given women increased media visibility” (McCarthy 363). McCarthy examined various comments about women skaters and found that a large number of them exuded masculine personas and centered around misogyny and gender differences. Some examples of these comments include: “Girls, please stay in the kitchen”; “Wanna hear a joke? Women’s sports.”; and “I’m gonna put on a skirt and dominate women SLS” (370). McCarthy’s findings are an example of Nikolov et al.’s theory of online social bubbles and questions about whether social media can lead to an increase in echo chambers and the polarization of audiences. Nikolov et al. discovered that “the diversity of information reached through social media is significantly lower than through a search baseline,” meaning that online users are less likely to be shown diverse content on social media than through an internet search, which further leads to the development of like-minded groups that only echo ideas shared with one another (8). Therefore, it is possible that because skateboarding is a male-dominated sport, this could lead to masculine echo chambers in online discussions regarding this sport, further leading to misogynistic comments being boosted through these same groups. It may be easier to share these types of opinions online due to not only the anonymity many social media sites offer, but also the large likelihood of being introduced to like-minded groups through the social media algorithm. McCarthy’s observation of online masculine personas leaving and agreeing with misogynistic comments regarding women skateboarding is an example of how social media increases the presence of social bubbles and echo chambers, as explored by Nikolov and colleagues.
Beyond just sports, many women believe they receive unnecessary hate when participating in activities; and much of this hate can be found online. For example, Jie Ann Quek writes about her experience suffering hate for her interests, which is an experience many women share. Quek writes that “when expressing a liking for typically feminine hobbies such as astrology, crystals and even listening to Taylor Swift” she is often met with disdain and annoyance from others (Quek). Stereotypically, feminine hobbies and interests, according to Quek, receive a lot of hatred and often lead to women who share these hobbies being called “basic.” From terms like “basic bitch” and content making fun of things like Starbucks and makeup, much of this criticism and hatred began and spread very quickly through social media. A TikTok user named Sasha made a video about their experience with this same phenomenon, relating to what Quek had written about. Sasha complained in her video that “if a girl says she likes Netflix, then people will accuse her of being stuck in the era of 2014 Tumblr. If she’s into make-up, she’s too into herself and her gender. If she likes video games, she’s a ‘bruh girl’” (qtd. in Jennings). Rebecca Jennings discusses this online phenomenon of hatred towards feminine activities, sharing that many of these insults claimed by these TikTok users are insults that make very little sense and have little relevance outside of social media. Jennings claims that “the way [TikTok] has established hyper specific identity markers is concerning,” and that these hyper-specific identity markers and online trends play a large part in contributing to the hatred surrounding girls online.
That is not to say that this hatred is nonexistent or is any less misogynistic. However, it is difficult to deduce just how much of this misogyny is socially acceptable misogyny, or mainly a result of the interface of social media sites that allow for echo chambers to form, and for users to leave and boost hateful comments with no real-life consequences, no matter how unpopular the opinion. When referring to “socially acceptable misogyny,” I refer to jokes that, though may hold a misogynistic tone and background, are still often made by others without being called out. As a result, this form of misogyny goes unnoticed and becomes “socially acceptable” to participate in, since it is not obvious misogyny to many. The comments that Quek writes about, and that Sasha complains about, are examples of jokes made against women that have a tone of misogyny that is not obvious enough to many people, allowing it to fly under the radar.
However, the same comments that Quek and Sasha discuss hearing from others are comments that would really only be shared online and would make much less sense offline. Social media sites, like TikTok and Instagram, can promote users to interact with each other’s comments and videos, and at the same time, the algorithm pushes like-minded content to users. As a result, a singular video on TikTok can have a comment section completely filled and boosted by comments from people sharing the same opinion resulting in viral jokes that are often insulting and misogynistic, but really only understood online and on a specific side of the internet. It is difficult to deduce just how common these types of comments and opinions are offline when taking into account the social media algorithm, anonymity, and platforms allowing for users to interact with and spread each other’s content.
I believe that social media plays a large role in spreading misogyny and forming echo chambers that have the potential to further spread hatred and sexism against women and what they choose to participate in. I myself have experienced criticism, and have witnessed other women receive hatred, for sharing typically “feminine” interests. Though this can be an example of socially acceptable misogyny, I also note that many of these sexist comments were boosted through social media platforms and were very “online centric,” meaning that these same comments would probably not make a lot of sense offline, or even be shared by a large number of people. With the development of apps like Twitter (rebranded as “X”) and TikTok, trends can spread very quickly and easily online, and these trends can even include hatred towards others. In some instances, online misogynistic comments may not be completely reflective of the general public’s feelings, such as the online hatred and comments towards feminine hobbies. Still, it demonstrates how misogyny can be hidden behind “jokes” and how the anonymity of the internet and the echo chambers formed through social media can increase the hatred women face in activities and sports.
Even if the average person wouldn’t admit to having these feelings and thoughts in-person, social-media may provide an outlet for people to share what would otherwise be socially unacceptable thoughts. As a result, it is very difficult to claim just how common these opinions are outside of social media, since these sites have the potential to allow for people to share their inward thoughts with relative anonymity. Still, I believe that it is likely for there to be many situations where online misogyny, such as towards women athletes and feminine activities, does not necessarily mean that these opinions are commonly found and shared outside of the internet. It is a complex issue with many answers, and as social media grows and social bubbles increase, I expect this to be a bigger discussion in the future.
Whether or not social media is truly representative of society’s feelings regarding women in the media is difficult to say. However, what I am sure of is that the echo chambers found in social media around women and femininity can be a cause for concern. The fact that comments such as the ones McCarthy found against female skateboarders are able to spread so easily on platforms, and be boosted by other users, is worrying. While it is true that social media is not always indicative of offline society, seeing as only a small portion of society are leaving comments, I believe that something should still be done to warn others about these worrying echo chambers that the social media algorithm encourages. More has to be done to protect feminine activities, women athletes, and other female figures from online hatred and abuse.
There are many young girls and women trying to enjoy their interests on social media that are going to encounter sexism and hatred towards the things they find enjoyable. I’ve encountered it personally. At the same time, I’ve also witnessed a rise in women fighting back against this hatred both in person and online by spreading content praising feminine interests, making trending videos that are “for the girls,” and fighting against sexism found in the comment sections towards female athletes. Social media can be used to help spread hatred, but it can also be used to fight against this hatred and spread positivity instead. I think that a way to cut down on these concerning echo chambers that can spread misogyny is to develop and spread online communities that are welcoming towards young girls, women, and feminine interests, and to try to push back against what could otherwise be hateful communities.
Works Cited
Jennings, Rebecca. “This Week in TikTok: How Are You Supposed to Be a Girl Online?” Vox, 26 Jan. 2021.
McCarthy, Brigid. “‘Who Unlocked the Kitchen?’: Online Misogyny, YouTube Comments and Women’s Professional Street Skateboarding.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport 57.3 (2022): 362–380.
Nikolov, Dimitar, et al. “Measuring Online Social Bubbles.” PeerJ Computer Science 1 (2015): e38.
Quek, Jie Ann. “Let Us Enjoy Our Hobbies: The Unnecessary Hate on Feminine Activities.” Her Campus | Created for Gen Z, by Gen Z., 23 Nov. 2021.