Abstract
With the growing pervasiveness of social media in our daily lives has come a recognition that these platforms have an influence over societal standards. The way women are represented on social media may reflect how they are treated in real life. The purpose of this study was to identify common themes among social media posts about women from four Chicago neighborhoods—Little Village, Pilsen, South Shore, and Englewood—to learn about the acceptability of traditionally negative gender-specific language in these communities, and to determine their potential effects. Public posts were abstracted from four diverse Chicago neighborhoods and coded into six major themes: (1) pride for women by women, (2) pride for self, (3) positive depictions of women by men, (4) violent imagery, (5) sexually explicit imagery, and (6) aggressive sexual imagery. We found that the meanings of traditionally derogatory language have evolved. Our findings may contribute to research that can establish relationships between representations of women on social media and gender dynamics in urban communities.
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