On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it is important to analyze how the “sexual politics“of the Big Tech and the unstoppable expansion of digital misogynyone of the most urgent threats in the online environment.
The paradox is evident: these spaces, initially designed to democratize dialogue and foster communityhave also become channels for increasingly sophisticated toxicity against women.
Great technological titans operate under models that maximize interactions and profitscolliding with democratic concepts, principles, values and procedures. As a result, the virtual ecosystem has been transformed into a space marked by omnipresent sexist and misogynistic semiotics that permeate the dominant globalized culture and facilitate the reproduction of sexist stereotypes, with detrimental effects for women.
Recent research has documented the magnitude of the problem: a recent study that analyzed 349,500 photos from Google View revealed how these prejudices are reflected in the images shown in this virtual space, which reflect an important gender bias. Regarding cyberbullying and female objectification, studies indicate that 60% of young women around the world have suffered cyberbullying, and in Spain this figure rises to 80%.
Platforms like OnlyFans have reinforced a system of objectification of women, with 97% of female bodies shown –97% of content creators on OnlyFans are women and only 3% are men–.
A study carried out by Sensity AI in 2020 found that 97% of images deepfake They were women and girls. There are 700 million porn web pages, 3.5 billion visits per month on pornhuband 99% of victims of pornographic videos deepfake They are women.
Recently, groups of students were detected in 70% of schools in South Korea Telegram what they did deepfakes sexual with photos of their companions. In Portugal A Telegram chat has been detected where 70,000 men exchange photos sexual nature of women around them.
Indeed, the use of artificial intelligence has opened a new frontier for digital abuse. The UN has warned about the increase in images generated by AI that simulate child sexual abuse.
This reality is part of a broader structural inequality in the technological field, where women continue to be underrepresented in STEM areasas well as in artificial intelligencewith only a 22% presence in AI and 29% in research and development, directly impacting the development of technologies and the resulting culture.
Digital misogyny is becoming a weapon of social destabilization. The normalization of hostile discourses towards women is a tangible threat to global security. And to the extent that technology giants continue to benefit financially from the virality of these messages, the situation seems far from improving. This “disaster capitalism” is eroding social cohesion and the quality of democracies.
The responsibility of enshittification
The phenomenon of enshittification It is a cycle in which online services, instead of improving, experience a progressive degradation in quality. In this case, it can be concluded that we are witnessing an unstoppable enshittification misogynist digital ecosystem.
The damage is deep and lasting. In terms of well-being, it has been found that people with Internet access are 8% more satisfied with their lives than those who do not have it, except in the case of women between 15 and 24 years old, who experience a different situation. .
At the same time, we are witnessing a phenomenon of post-political fanaticism where the virality of misogyny is amplified by the alliance between authoritarian and anti-democratic political administrations and the leaders of large technology corporations, who use their power to erode the rights of women to global level.
The question that arises is: what measures can we take to curb this expanding threat? It is urgent that both governments and citizens become aware of this situation and act to protect human rights, expropriating the digital space of public utility.
The digital platforms They must assume their responsibility in creating safe and respectful spaces. However, the problem goes beyond technology: it requires global policies and a collective commitment to eradicate misogyny and build a more compassionate, humane and just digital future.
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