The Future of Gender and Gender Equality Online

A Scenario Analysis of Imaginaries on Gender and Social Media Platforms

Authors

  • Babette Lagrange CIMS – Ghent University, Belgium
  • Sofie Van Bauwel CIMS – Ghent University, Belgium
  • Daniel Biltereyst CIMS – Ghent University, Belgium
  • Sara Cannizzaro IULM University, Italy
  • Justine Toms New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria
  • Yasemin Ağca Bilkent University, Türkiye
  • Ingrid Andersson International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development, Sweden
  • Emma Bjorner International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development, Sweden
  • Achilleas Karadimitriou National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
  • Klára Odstrčilová Charles University, Czech Republic
  • Stylianos Papathanassopoulos National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
  • Elisabetta Risi IULM University, Italy
  • Valentina Latronico USI – Università della Svizzera Italiana, Italy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.17.1(35).704

Keywords:

Future scenario, gender, gender equality, social media platform, feminism

Abstract

The emergence and growth of the internet and social media platforms have engendered significant transformations in everyday life, affecting not only society’s most innermost life but also its structural organization. This digital realm impacts gender equality, giving rise to spaces for feminist community building and activism, but at the same time enabling online gender harassment and violence. Our aim was to construct possible scenarios of the future, focusing on foreseeable consequences of social media on gender (in)equality in Europe. Using the Delphi+ method, we generated diverse future scenarios envisioning the intersection of gender and social media platforms. Through an analysis of these scenarios, we identified three recurring themes situated on a continuum from utopian to dystopian perspectives, including various positions in relation to the question of social media as safe or unsafe spaces. This study then provides us with possible imaginaries in relation to gender and social media platforms.

Author Biographies

Babette Lagrange, CIMS – Ghent University, Belgium

Babette Lagrange is a researcher at the Department of Communication Science at Ghent University, where she works for the Horizon 2020 funded EUMEPLAT project. She writes and publishes articles on topics related to gender issues. Within these articles she often implements an affect theoretical lens.

Sofie Van Bauwel, CIMS – Ghent University, Belgium

Sofie Van Bauwel is a Full Professor at the Department of Communication studies at the Ghent University where she teaches on cultural media studies, gender and media and television studies. She is part of the research centre CIMS and her main field of interest is gender, media and film and television. She is involved in several projects with a focus on the media as signifying articulations in visual popular culture. She was vice-chair of the Gender and Communication section of the European Research and Communication Association (ECREA  2006-2012) and is part of the editorial board of Feminist Media Studies. She is also co-editor of the working papers Film and Television studies and publishes internationally and nationally on popular media culture, feminist theory and film.

Daniel Biltereyst, CIMS – Ghent University, Belgium

Daniel Biltereyst is full professor at Ghent University, where he leads the Center for Cinema and Media Studies (CIMS). Besides exploring new approaches to historical media and cinema cultures, he is engaged in work on film and screen culture as sites of censorship, controversy, public debate and audience engagement.

Sara Cannizzaro, IULM University, Italy

Cannizzaro is a Research Fellow on EUMEPLAT -European media platforms: assessing positive and negative externalities for European culture– at Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione IULM (Italy). She is also Senior Research Fellow for TechEthos -Ethics of new and emerging technologies with high socio-economic impact- at de Montfort University (UK).

Justine Toms, New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria

Justine Toms is a lecturer at the New Bulgarian University since 2007, University of Sofia since 2020 and Software University SoftUni since 2017. Toms is well known in the Bulgarian internet community. She has published more then 20 books on internet, online communication and digital media.

Yasemin Ağca, Bilkent University, Türkiye

Ağca is full time Instructor with a background in humanities and media and visual studies. She has taught on aesthetics, art, design history, and advertising. She worked in international research projects and published work in scholarly journals. Research interests include philosophy and history of art, analysis methods, and design history.

Ingrid Andersson, International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development, Sweden

Andersson is Senior Expert at IKED and Vice President of the Global Forum. She has an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from HEC Paris, with a major in Differentiation and Innovation through Services. She focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation, and commercialization based on tailoring to special customer needs and co-creation.

Emma Bjorner, International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development, Sweden

Dr. Emma Björner is a Researcher at the Department of Business Administration, the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, and Senior expert at the International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED). Her research centres on marketing, branding, place development, tourism, food, entrepreneurship, policy and media.

Achilleas Karadimitriou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Karadimitriou is a Researcher, Adjunct Lecturer, and is working as journalist/fact-checker for check4facts.gr, headed by the National Centre for Social Research. He has participated in various European research programmes. His publications focus on broadcasting policy, news media and social media framing, journalism professionalism/practices in the context of the platformised era. 

Klára Odstrčilová, Charles University, Czech Republic

Klára Odstrčilová is a doctoral candidate and a researcher at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at Charles University. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, and master’s degree in Theory of Interactive Media and Documentary Filmmaking. Klara´s doctoral research is focused on Children on social media.

Stylianos Papathanassopoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Dr. Stylianos Papathanassopoulos is Professor of Media Policy and Organization at the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has written extensively on European and Greek media, with reference to the development and impact of new media in various journals and books.

Elisabetta Risi, IULM University, Italy

Elisabetta Risi (PhD) is Senior Assistant Professor at IULM University (Milano). Her research is situated within the field of critical algorithm studies and analyses power asymmetries gender related. She teaches sociology and communication sciences and she is author of several papers on the relationship between subjectivity and platform capitalism.

Valentina Latronico, USI – Università della Svizzera Italiana, Italy

Valentina Latronico is a full-time researcher. She trained and specialized in psychology, communication, and management, after which she implemented her experience working on international projects. She now publishes reports and articles in both the academic and corporate worlds.

References

Aboujaoude, E., Savage, M. W., Starcevic, V., & Salame, W. O. (2015). Cyberbullying: Review of an old problem gone viral. Journal of Adolescent Health, 57, 10-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.04.011

Allmer, T. (2015). Critical theory and social media: Between emancipation and commodification. Routledge.

Arribas­‑Ayllon, M., & Walkerdine, V. (2008). Foucauldian discourse analysis. Sage.

Banet­‑Weiser, S., & Miltner, K. M. (2016). #MasculinitySoFragile: Culture, structure, and networked misogyny. Feminist Media Studies, 16(1), 171–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2016.1120490

Banet­‑Weiser, S. (2021). Gender, social media, and the labor of authenticity. American Quarterly, 73(1), 141-144. https://doi:10.1353/aq.2021.0008

Bartlett, J., Norrie, R., Patel, S., Rumpel, R., & Wibberley, S. (2014). Misogyny on Twitter. Demos.

Batool, S., Qadri, F. A., & Amir, M. A. (2022). Social media and women empowerment: A digital feminist analysis of ‘Watch Us Rise’ by Watson and Hagan. Journal of Social Sciences Review, 2(4), 9-18. https://doi.org/10.54183/jssr.v2i4.40

Bivens, R., & Haimson, O. L. (2016). Baking gender into social media design: How platforms shape categories for users and advertisers. Social Media + Society, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116672486

boyd, D. (2011). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), Networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites (pp. 39–58). Routledge.

Brown, M., Ray, R., Summers, E., & Fraistat, N. (2017). #SayHerName: A case study of intersectional social media activism. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1831–1846. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1334934

Carpentier, N., & Hroch, M. (2023). The EUMEPLAT Delphi+ workshops: A manual. Culture and Communication Research Centre, Charles University.

Cefai, S., & Couldry, N. (2017). Mediating the presence of others: Reconceptualising co-presence as mediated intimacy. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(3), 291–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417743040

Clark­‑Parsons, R. (2018). Building a digital Girl Army: The cultivation of feminist safe spaces online. New Media & Society, 20(6), 2125–2144. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817731919

Connelly, S. M. (2015). ‘Welcome to the FEMINIST CULT’: Building a feminist community of practice on Tumblr. Student Publications, 328.

Cuboniks, L. (2018). The Xenofeminist manifesto: A politics for alienation. Verso Books.

Dickel, S., & Schrape, J. F. (2017). The logic of digital utopianism. NanoEthics (11): 47-58.

Drakett, J., Rickett, B., Day, K., & Milnes, K. (2018). Old jokes, new media: Online sexism and constructions of gender in Internet memes. Feminism & Psychology, 28(1), 109-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517727560

Dusi, D., & Stevens, P. (2022). Thematic analysis: An analytical method in its own right. In P. Stevens (Ed.), Qualitative data analysis: Key approaches (pp. 293–316). SAGE.

Fabbri, G. (2022). Intersectional activism on social media: Anti-racist and feminist strategies in the digital space. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 58(5), 713-728.

Foucault, M. (1975). Préface. In M. Foucault, Dits et écrits (pp. 187-195). Gallimard.

Fotopoulou, A. (2016). Feminist activism and digital networks: Between empowerment and vulnerability. Palgrave Macmillan.

Garaigordobil, M. (2011). Prevalencia y consecuencias del cyberbullying: Una revision [Prevalence and consequences of cyberbullying: A review]. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 11, 233-254.

Ging, D., & Siapera, E. (Eds.). (2019). Gender hate online: Understanding the new anti-feminism. Springer.

Hamid, N. A., Ishak, M. S., & Yusof, N. (2015). Measurement model of empowerment for women and girls using social media. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 1, 84–91.

Haraway, D. (1985/2016). A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist­‑feminism in the late twentieth century. University of Minnesota Press.

Hester, H. (2018). Xenofeminism. John Wiley & Sons.

Hoffman, B., Ware, J., & Shapiro, E. (2020). Assessing the threat of incel violence. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 43(7), 565-587. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1751459

Hobbs, M., Owen, S., & Gerber, L. (2016). Liquid love? Dating apps, sex, relationships and the digital transformation of intimacy. Journal of Sociology, 53(2), 271–284.

Inayatullah, S. (2012). Futures studies. Theories and methods. In F. G. Junquera (Ed.) There’s a future: Visions for a better world (pp. 37-65). BBVA.

Jane, E. A. (2014). ‘Back to the kitchen, cunt’: Speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 28, 558-570. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2014.924479

Jane E. A. (2016). Misogyny online: A short (and brutish) history. Sage.

Kadeswaran, S., Brindha, D., & Jayaseelan, R. (2020). Social media as a gateway for accelerating women empowerment. Parishodh Journal, 9(3), 4876-4885.

Kay, J. B. (2019). Xenofeminism. Feminist Media Studies, 19(2), 306–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2019.1579983

Keller, J. M. (2011). Virtual feminism: Girls’ blogging communities, feminist activism, and participatory politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(3), 429-447. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.642890

Komarraju, S. A., Arora, P., & Raman, U. (2022). Agency and servitude in platform labour: A feminist analysis of blended cultures. Media, Culture & Society, 44(4), 672-689. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437211029890.

Kondakciu, K., Souto, M., & Zayer, L.T. (2022). Self-presentation and gender on social media: An exploration of the expression of ‘authentic selves’. Qualitative Market Research, 25(1), 80-99. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-03-2021-0039

Lundmark, S., & Normark, M. (2014). Designing gender in social media: Unpacking interaction design as a carrier of social norms. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 6(2), 223-241.

Martinez­‑Pecino, R., & Durán, M. (2019). I love you but I cyberbully you: The role of hostile sexism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(4), 812-825. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516645817

Masi, C. M., Suarez­‑Balcazar, Y., Cassey, M. Z., Kinney, L., & Piotrowski, H. (2003). Internet access and empowerment: A community-based health initiative. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18(7), 525-530.

Marwick, A. E., & Caplan, R. (2018). Drinking male tears: Language, the manosphere, and networked harassment. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 543-559. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1450568

Melissa, E., Hamidati, A., & Saraswati, M. S. (2013). Social media empowerment: How social media helps to boost women entrepreneurship in Indonesian urban areas. The IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication and Film, 1(1), 77-90.

Morahan­‑Martin, J. (2000). Women and the internet: Promise and perils. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3(5), 683-691.

Nadim, M., & Fladmoe, A. (2021). Silencing women? Gender and online harassment. Social Science Computer Review, 39(2), 245-258. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0894439319865518

Oudshoorn, N., Rommes, E., & Stienstra, M. (2004). Configuring the user as everybody: Gender and design cultures in information and communication technologies. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 29(1), 30-63.

Paasonen, S. (2011). Revisiting cyberfeminism. Communications, 36(3), 335-352. https://doi.org/10.1515/comm.2011.017

Polkinghorne, D. E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5-23.

Plant, S. (1997/2016). Zeros + Ones: Digital Women + The New Technoculture. Fourth Estate.

Rommes, E. (2014). Feminist interventions in the design process. In W. Ernst & I. Horwath (Eds.), Gender in science and technology (pp. 41-55). transcript Verlag.

Saner, E. (2024, 31 January). Inside the Taylor Swift deepfake scandal: ‘It’s men telling a powerful woman to get back in her box’. Retrieved 2 February 2024, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/31/inside-the-taylor-swift-deepfake-scandal-its-men-telling-a-powerful-woman-to-get-back-in-her-box

Squires, J. (2000). Fabulous feminist futures and the lure of cyberculture. In D. Bell & B. M. Kennedy (Eds.), The cybercultures reader (pp. 360-373). Routledge.

Sunden, J. (2001). What happened to difference in cyberspace? The (re)turn of the she-cyborg. Feminist Media Studies, 1(2), 215-232.

Tranchese, A., & Sugiura, L. (2021). ‘I don’t hate all women, just those stuck­‑up bitches’: How incels and mainstream pornography speak the same extreme language of misogyny. Violence Against Women, 27(14), 2709-2734. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801221996453

Transgender Infopunt. (2023, May 11). Transwetten Europa. Transgenderinfo. https://www.transgenderinfo.be/nl/rechten/wetgeving/transwetten-europa

van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford University Press.

Van Doorn, N. (2011). Digital spaces, material traces: How matter comes to matter in online performances of gender, sexuality and embodiment. Media, Culture & Society, 33(4), 531-547.

Vickery, J. R., & Everbach, T. (2018). Mediating misogyny: Gender, technology, and harassment. Springer.

Wajcman, J. (2004). Technofeminism. Polity Press.

Wajcman, J. (2010). Feminist theories of technology. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34, 143-152.

Workman, H., & Coleman, C. A. (2014). ‘The front page of the internet’: Safe spaces and hyperpersonal communication among females in an online community. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 29(2), 2–21.

CEJC vol17 no1(35) Special Issue 2024 COVER

Downloads

Published

2024-07-04

How to Cite

Lagrange, B., Van Bauwel, S., Biltereyst, D., Cannizzaro, S., Toms, J., Ağca, Y., Andersson, I., Bjorner, E., Karadimitriou, A., Odstrčilová, K., Papathanassopoulos, S., Risi, E., & Latronico, V. (2024). The Future of Gender and Gender Equality Online: A Scenario Analysis of Imaginaries on Gender and Social Media Platforms. Central European Journal of Communication, 17(1(35), 103-124. https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.17.1(35).704

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1(35) (2024): Special Issue: The Construction of the Future of Platforms

Section

Scientific Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Polish Communication Association

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Most read articles by the same author(s)