Over the past few years, social media has become a fundamental tool for socialization among young people. Who could have imagined, years ago, the relevance and role these digital platforms would play in people’s lives, perhaps even more so among children and teenagers? Mobile phones and their apps are being used at increasingly younger ages. Nine out of ten Spanish teenagers connect to the internet several times a day or are constantly online.

Given the important role social media plays in the socialization and personal relationships of new generations, does its use affect the gender gap? And if so, in what way?

On the one hand, social media has become a tool for empowering women, especially younger women. It has served as a platform to unite sisterhood and efforts to publicly denounce cases of abuse, discrimination, and violence against women in all its forms. Movements like #MeToo , #Ibelieveyou , and #NotOneMore were born and grew on social media.

Networks have also served to foster collaboration among women on issues such as fertility or imposter syndrome, with the creation of multiple resources aimed at overcoming situations of discrimination or dealing with online insecurity.

Gender differences in the use and impact of social media

Children and teenagers do not use the same social media platforms or in the same way. For example, among Spanish users aged 11 or 12 on WhatsApp , Twitch , YouTube , or Instagram , it has been observed that boys followed more posts related to sports or video games, while girls followed more content related to music, fashion, health, beauty, politics, and celebrities. Girls also reported following more family members on social media than boys.

Studies suggest that teenage boys use YouTube more , while teenage girls use TikTok or Instagram more . Using TikTok or Instagram more , and preferring content about fashion, health, celebrities, or beauty, has an impact on the beauty standards that girls, in particular, experience.

For them, social media often becomes a showcase where physical appearance is highlighted, body image is idealized, and social validation is sought. A majority of users (some of them influencers followed by thousands) exchange almost always attractive images about different aspects of their personal and professional lives.

This excessive emphasis on body image, and the objectification and sexualization of women’s bodies that it entails , makes girls especially vulnerable to certain mental health problems . For example, Instagram use stands out in some studies for its relationship with body dissatisfaction, the promotion of thinness, and social comparison. Other research links Facebook use to low self-esteem and changes in eating behavior.

A sexist artificial intelligence

Beyond social media, there are other areas where technology, if we’re not careful, can end up reinforcing certain stereotypes and, with them, inequality. For example, the field of artificial intelligence. The use of generative AI tools to design influencers is becoming increasingly common .

If we closely examine the attributes associated with their physical and psychological appearance, we can observe that these types of influencers (often used for marketing and advertising purposes), just like real-life influencers , replicate and exaggerate the physical and psychological characteristics and roles of the women and men they represent. Aitana López, Shudu Gram, Alex, and Kyra are examples of influencers created using AI tools.

The data that feeds these tools for creating images and content contains numerous gender biases, and therefore, in the design and production of new digital technologies, a traditional view of the roles and stereotypes associated with men and women continues to be adopted.

However, despite the importance of social media and artificial intelligence as potential propagators of gender biases and stereotypes, there are hardly any studies on the subject. What attributes are used as a reference to define the physical appearance, personality, attitudes, or behavior that these influencers display to the public, and why?

Cyberbullying and grooming, especially among girls

One risk of using social media at a young age is being contacted or contacting strangers, something that 1 in 3 teenagers do . There is ample evidence that girls receive more unsolicited messages and experience more harassment and abuse than their male peers.

For example, according to a 2022 study by the Women’s Institute on online harassment , 80% of women have experienced some form of online harassment. Half of these online harassment incidents are related to the establishment (or attempted establishment) of an intimate relationship. Furthermore, in most cases, these harassment experiences were perpetrated by strangers.

The emergence of the machosphere

It is shocking that the empowerment of women on social media and, therefore, in different areas of life has in turn given rise to a reactionary, misogynistic and anti-feminist movement, known as the machosphere (manosphere in English).

The “machosphere” has been defined as the set of virtual spaces that accommodate a multitude of movements based on promoting a toxic masculinity centered on the spread of misogynistic and antifeminist discourses . These spaces are characterized by fostering the dissemination of hoaxes and misinformation about gender equality and the situation of women. Furthermore, they advocate a return to traditional masculine values ​​with arguments that deny violence against women, even claiming it is an ideological invention .

Among teenage boys, the tendency to believe that gender violence is an ideological invention or to trivialize it has been increasing in recent years, as we can see by comparing the results of the Youth and Gender Barometer : in 2019, 11.9% agreed with the statement that gender violence is an ideological invention; in 2021 this figure rose to 20%; and in 2023, to 23%. Many young people (mostly boys) find refuge and understanding in these types of movements, very present on social media, where a distorted and toxic view of relationships between men and women is fostered.

Added to this is the lack of knowledge about what constitutes a hate crime or how to deal with it: 43% of young people of both sexes do not believe or are not sure that sending hate messages is a crime (almost 50% of boys versus 37% of girls), and 1 in 4 teenagers said they would not know where to report a case of online violence .

Video games, a hostile world for women

Around 47% of people who play video games are women. However, many of them are constantly subjected to insults and derogatory remarks from some male gamers.

For this reason, some choose to conceal their female identity to avoid these kinds of situations. Furthermore, the few women who produce and design video games frequently face harassment on social media .

Pornography and gender equality

In recent years, there has been particular concern about young people’s access to pornography from a very early age, especially boys . This has a significant impact on how they perceive sexual and emotional relationships, as most of the videos and content they access present a distorted image of women, relationships, and the role women play within them.

Recent studies point to the influence that the consumption of this type of content has on couple relationships during adolescence, since in many cases some adolescents (especially boys) have internalized what they have viewed and demand that their partners reproduce what they have seen in the pornographic material to which they have had access.

The evidence we have gathered confirms the need to work with children and adolescents to foster a critical, responsible, and ethical use of digital tools, especially social media. There are some examples of the misuse of these tools for sexist purposes, which should not occur. But it is also important to work with families, teachers, and education specialists to train them and promote the ethical use of social media.

Author Bio: Milagros Sáinz Ibáñez is a Researcher and Director of the gender and ICT research group at IN3, UOC – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya