Gender & Social Media
Social media: A continuation of or challenge to gender stereotyping?
Katie van Slyke
2024
Introduction: social media and gender
1.
Social media platforms play a crucial role in connecting people, disseminating information, shaping public
discourse, and facilitating various forms of interaction and engagement within and across communities (Boyd &
Ellison, 2007). Advances in information and communication technology (ITC) and the increasing accessibility of
digital devices have facilitated an increase in social media popularity. From the
onset, social media platforms sought to replicate and extend social interactions
and relationships that occur in real-life settings into the digital realm. Although the
first social media platforms (such as Six Degrees and Friendster) offered limited
interaction (focusing on individual profiles and static content display), they
gradually evolved into dynamic ecosystems of connections with a magnitude of
diverse functionalities. These functionalities ranged from sharing text-based content, such as microblogging on X
(formerly known as Twitter) to visual (video and audio) storytelling on Instagram, SnapChat, and TikTok.
2.
The rise of social media has democratised communication, allowing every social media user to become a content
creator. Therefore, social media is not only an influential tool that affects society, but also a powerful mechanism
through which the right to freedom of expression, access to information, the search for truth and robust public
debate can be fostered (SAHRC, 2023). Despite a belief that social media is neutral and harmless, these
platforms provide a fertile breeding ground for bias, genderisation, and unfair discrimination. Therefore, the
argument can be made that although social media have fundamentally changed social interactions and
experiences, they have also introduced challenges that society could never have foreseen (Herrmann et al., 2024).
One such challenge is the complicated connection between gender and the functionalities and dynamics of social
media platforms. This challenge can only be comprehended once one grasps the actual reach of social media.
Social media reach
3.
Social media reach extends far beyond traditional modes of communication, permeating both public and private
spheres with unprecedented speed and scale. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) state that in January 2009, around the
beginning of the social media boom, Facebook registered more than 175 million active users, which was slightly
less than the population of Brazil and twice the population of Germany at the time. Kaplan and Haenlein
(2010) add that in 2010 every minute ten hours of content were uploaded to YouTube and that Flickr provided
access to more than 3 billion photographs, “making the world-famous Louvre Museum collection of 300,000
objects seem insignificant in comparison.” The number of social media users has since increased dramatically
and the nature of social media has changed significantly.
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Gender & Social Media
4. The following points reflect some more recent statistics that indicate the reach of social media and its consumption according to
gender:
•
Facebook currently has more than 3 billion active users per month (compared with 175 million in
2010). More than half of the world uses social media (62.3%) – since 2023 the number of users
increased by 266 million – see Figure 1 below (Chaffey, 2024).
Figure 1: Social media use versus total population
•
•
•
•
•
Girls and women use social media more often to share personal and creative content; they are
particularly active on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Boys and men use social media more often to play games and exchange opinions; they are mainly active
on YouTube and Twitter.
People between the ages of 25 and 39 are most active on social media. While Facebook is also used by
people over 70 years of age, TikTok is the medium with the youngest users: in 2019, there were 1
million users between the ages of 6 and 19.
In January 2024, women in the 25-34-year age group accounted for 15.8% of social media users in
South Africa. This was higher than the 14.9% for men in the same age bracket. Young women aged 13
to 17 years also represented 15.8% of social media audiences in South Africa (Cowling, 2024).
There is a decernable difference in the social media platform of choice, as illustrated by Dixon (2024)
in Figure 2 below.
X (Twitter)
Figure 2: Social media platform of choice by sex
It is evident that the number of social media users is constantly increasing, which also means that the reach and
impact of social media is increasing. Considering that the average user spends 2 h 23 m per day scrolling on
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Gender & Social Media
social media platforms, this does not bode well for the spread of the previously mentioned bias, unfair
discrimination, and genderlisation.
Social media and gender stereotypes
5.
As mentioned previously, the rise of social media and the ability to create content have democratised
communication. Sometimes this content infringes on the rights of other individuals, however. The line between
protecting the right to freedom of expression on the one hand and equality, dignity, and privacy rights on the
other hand is often unclear (SAHRC, 2023). While social media opens up space for diverse (self)-representations
of gender, it also allows individuals to assign stereotypical gender and cultural norms to others. In fact, research
indicates that social media do not always allow for a wide diversity of genders but mostly convey traditional images
of men and women. Therefore, existing gender stereotypes are reinforced. Scheele and Spangenberg (2021)
identified five ways in which gender stereotyping has been reinforced in social media:
Body images: Picture-based platforms like Instagram (re)produce gender-normed body images. Before
posting a picture, 94% of women and 87% of men optimise their photo at least once using filtering
apps to conform to the desired female or male ideal of beauty. Hashtags under which people post
pictures of their seemingly optimal bodies, such as #fitspiration or #thinspiration, can lead to damage to
mental and physical health and promote eating disorders or addiction to muscle development, for
example. However, social media can also be used to effect change. Some influencers help their
followers overcome an eating disorder, for example, by deliberately uploading photos without filters.
b. Gender roles: Social media have an impact on personal attitudes towards gender roles. The more
intensively young people use Instagram, YouTube, etc., the more conventionally and stereotypically
they think about the allocation of roles between men and women. This has been shown in a survey
among 14 to 32-year-olds.
c. Opinion Formation/Digital Violence: Female YouTubers receive more negative comments on their
videos (including sexist, racist, and sexually aggressive hate speech) compared to male YouTubers.
With this form of gender-based digital violence, some users push people out of social media (called
silencing) and prevent them from further expressing themselves and shaping public opinion.
d. Discriminatory recommendations based on algorithms are used by social media operators. Algorithms
are used to prioritise and present content to respective users. It can be assumed that the
programmers of the algorithmic systems pass on sexist and racist attitudes and that they thus replicate
and reproduce them (be it consciously or unconsciously).
e. Male-dominated production cultures: In traditional media, male writers, directors, and producers are
the norm. The “#MeToo” debate has made publicly known how extremely common sexism and
harassment are in this industry.
Within the South African context, it is especially gender roles, digital violence and male-dominated production
cultures that not only reinforce gender stereotypes, but also strengthen genderlisation.
a.
Gender stereotypes and South African social media
6.
Gender roles are still predominately viewed based on sex, i.e., males are masculine breadwinners, protectors,
and the head of the house, while females are feminine, primary caregivers, and responsible for tasks in and around
the house. In South Africa, lobola’s contribution to gender stereotyping has been captured on social media with
the question ‘How can women be the property of men?’ arising among users (De Oliveira et al., 2022).
7.
Another example of gender stereotyping is the gender barriers men must overcome if they choose to work as
teachers, especially for children in the early years of schooling. Gender expectations and stereotypes strongly
influence why men shy away from teaching, with teaching often viewed as ‘women’s work’ and associated with
the care and nurturing of young children. Consequently, men who teach young children may have their masculinity
questioned or scrutinised, and not be seen as “real men” (Bhana et al., 2019).
8.
Men are also portrayed as mostly absent when it comes to raising children. In fact, De Oliveira et al., (2022) found
#ATMdad as a common thread on social media. The ATM (Automated Teller Machine) Dad refers to fathers who
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Gender & Social Media
provide financially for their children without being physically or emotionally present. A total of 1021 mentions were
analysed and most of the posts by female social media users shared their gratitude for fathers who provide
financially without any constraints or ‘baby daddy issues.” In this respect, #ATMDad was seen to be preferable to
a father who is present but not able or willing to share the cost of raising a child. There were also individuals who
cited their experience growing up with an #ATMDad and who believed that their child would also be fine. This thread
is in stark contrast to the findings of Kahn (2017), who found that a significant number of men ‘do’ fatherhood and
manhood in ways that differ from the patriarchal archetypes that sustain gender inequality. This points to the
possibility of creating a more gender-equal society.
9.
Adding to the notion that social media challenge cultural and social norms, one of the most popular discussions
in South Africa between 9 December 2021 and 8 February 2022 was Lobola, referred to earlier (refer to the image
below for a depiction of the most frequent hashtags, phrases, and keywords used in reference to lobola).
10. Popular discussions related to the financial issues have started as a consequence of the monetisation of this
tradition in the context of a struggling economy. These discussions revolved around the intense difficulties young
men face and the mounting pressure they feel from their families to get married and pay their own lobola. Several
contributors spoke about how young men face the stress of paying back loans, supporting extended families, and
paying to support their children. Some users questioned the place of lobola in relation to gender equity. For
example, while some male contributors questioned how families could demand lobola for a girl who is not able to
cook or clean, certain female social media users objected to being viewed as a man’s property. Some users
expressed positive sentiments toward lobola and spoke about this customary practice with a sense of warmth and
pride. Several male users shared personal stories and explained that marriage was, for them, a safe space filled
with love for each other and their children.
Digital violence and male-dominated media
11. The above-mentioned sentiment is in stark contrast with the fact that online gender-based violence (OGBV) has
now risen to share the stage with GBV as one of the biggest challenges and obstacles to development in South
Africa. OGVB refers to targeted harassment and prejudice through technology against people based on their
gender. OGVB disproportionately affects girls, women, children, and LGBTIQ+ persons. An online survey of ninety
LGBTIQ+ adults aged between 18 and 34 from South Africa reveals a high incidence of exclusion, outing and
harassment, covering a wide variety of types, duration, and experienced severity, taking place through text
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Gender & Social Media
messaging and social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Nyamweda, 2021). Although
members of the LGBTIQ+ community, women, and girls are statistically more likely to be victims it is not to say that
men and boys are not also sometimes victims.
12. One field where men seem to thrive is in the entertainment industry. Women’s voices are less heard and decision
making lies predominantly with men. Refer to the image below for a breakdown of the SA media content.
13. Women are still the missing voices in the SA news: Overall, women constitute 39% of TV news sources; an
improvement on the 25% recorded in 2015. Women’s views and voices are scarce on mainstream topics: Men’s
views dominate in the categories of politics, economics, sport, and social topic categories of television news.
Women’s views are only equally heard in the gender equality topic category. With women comprising 77% of
programme creators, but only 31% of executive directors and 15% of directors in entertainment, content creation
remains a ‘man’s world.’
Acknowledging diversity
14. Social media platforms have the potential to play a transformative role in acknowledging and challenging gender
norms in South Africa. Through the dissemination of inclusive narratives, and discussions surrounding gender
identity and equality, social media can facilitate conversations that challenge traditional stereotypes and
perceptions. Furthermore, social media activism and campaigns initiated by individuals, communities, and
organisations can raise awareness about gender-based issues, advocate for policy changes, and promote
inclusivity and representation. By amplifying marginalised voices and fostering dialogue around gender diversity,
social media can contribute to societal shifts in attitudes and perceptions, ultimately fostering a more inclusive
and equitable society in South Africa.
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Gender & Social Media
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