GENDER ROLES AND STEREOTYPES ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON YOUNG PEOPLE

Abstract

Social media has become a significant agent of socialization in recent years and it can be seen especially in the way people conceptualize certain topics. This study explores young people’s opinions of gender roles and stereotypes as portrayed on social media, but also the ways in which these platforms can influence their expectations of themselves or those around them, through a qualitative research, being used the semi-structured interviews technique. Ten subjects participated - an equal number of women and men - aged between 20 and 27 years old, that are frequent users of social media platforms. Influencers were also included in the study to provide a better understanding into the use of social media. The research focused on several key themes, such as general use of social media platforms, representations of gender roles and stereotypes on social media, gender-based expectations and the impact of social media on young people from the perspective of gender roles and stereotypes. The main findings indicate that social media contains a large variety of gender roles and stereotypes, but the influence on the subjects varies by gender: women experience a greater social pressure to conform to certain gender roles and stereotypes, compared to men. However, the overall results highlight that, for the participants involved, these influences are not perceived as overwhelming.