Whether it is right or wrong, most people know that on the Internet there is very little ‘filter’ in what people say. When getting into a debate or discussion with others, people will often say things that they would never dream of repeating in ‘real life.’ This type of thing seems to be especially true when it comes to how people treat women online.
A recent study was completed that looked at Twitter activity, and specifically at how often women were called either, “whore” or “slut” in an aggressive way (the study, apparently, had the ability to weed out when people used these terms in a ‘joking’ way, which is a whole other topic). Over the course of a three week period, the Twitter activity that was tracked found that users called others whores or sluts nearly 80,000 times.
Victims of this type of activity ranged from the average users being targeted by friends (or even family) all the way up to famous ladies like Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Beyonce.
The focus of this study was chosen due to a study done back in 2014 that found that the terms whore and slut were the most used misogynistic language on Twitter (see the study HERE).
One may look at this type of thing and think that this is evidence of a very misogynistic environment on Twitter. While that very well may be true, the study found that approximately half of all instances where these terms were used, it was another women doing the attacking.
Alex Krasodomski-Jones, a researcher at Demos, said in a statement on the study, “This study provides a birds-eye snapshot of what is ultimately a very personal and often traumatic experience for women. It is clear that just as the digital world has created new opportunities for public debate and social interaction, it has also built new battlegrounds for the worst aspects of human behavior.”
As marketers, it is important that we not only hold ourselves to a higher standard in regards to the way we use the Internet, but also that we are aware of what is going on in these environments. Using marketing to help set a more positive and less aggressive tone can be one small thing that we can do to help slowly change the online culture that largely treats women as objects and encourages bullying in general.
