How Social Media Affects Gender Norms: Relationships,

Sexuality, and Race

By: Kala’H Bailey

Introduction:

For our research we wanted to see the effect social media has on gender norms when it comes to

relationships, race and family households. We got our research by interviewing , google scholar

and by Twitter polls. So far in our research we’ve found that social media does have somewhat

of a huge impact on gender norms within these three topics.

Gender/ social norms in relationships is something that has been engraved in us the

moment we could identify a romantic relationship. Gender norms in relationships dictate who

does what and there are no questions asked about it. In a relationship, the man is supposed to

take care of the women financially and he is supposed to protect her from danger. A woman’s

job in the relationship is to take care of the man emotionally and sexually , she's also supposed to

cook, clean, and stay in a woman’s place. With this being said, the topic of my research is how

social media affects gender norms within relationships. The purpose of my study is to show how

social media like Twitter affects gender norms in a relationship.

Lit Review

Relationships: What was researched before in this area was the social norms in adolescent

romantic relationships. This study finds that a majority of adolescents have been in a relationship

by the time they graduate high school, the study also finds that the vast majority of this high

school romantic relationships affect their adult romantic relationships. The research method that

was used for this was theoretical research. This research also investigated the social / gender

norms in adolescents to help them understand better what a healthy relationship is. The gaps in
the research were they didn't elaborate if this changed the way the students viewed gender/

social norms within a romantic relationship. The research method that was used was them

watching and talking to the kids who were in a romantic relationship and taking notes.

What was research before was how gender norms were associated with women’s

dynamics. This study predicted that a decline in marriage formation, the study found this decline

to be true for women without a college degree. For women with four year college degrees gender

norms and marriage formations were a positive thing. The study also found that divorce was

more prone to marriages when they followed the traditional gender roles. The research method

that was used was theoretical research ,some gaps that this aims to fill is what specie gender roles

lead to divorce.

The goal of this research article was to show that in a relationship you don't have to abide

by traditional gender roles. Shantell explained in her article how her parents did not fall into the

stereotypical gender roles. She explained how her mother did not see him as less as a man nor

did her father feel any less of a man. Her mother made the most money in their household and

her father was a stay at home dad. She stated how well this worked within her parents

relationship and that it’s okay to not follow the typical gender roles within your relationship.

My research question is “ How does social media affect gender roles within

relationships? For my hypotheses “If you allow the women to take on the male gender roles

within a relationship the man will feel as if he is less as a man and that his masculinity is being

threatened and he will more than likely break-up with his girlfriend.”

So far, I have found most men do not find this threatening to their masculinity. They enjoy

having an assertive women who is independent. So I have come to the conclusion that switching

gender roles within a relationship does not threaten the man’s masculinity.
 This article helps my research because its giving me first information from someone who

was around a relationship that did not follow normal gender roles. So their insight is very useful I

know I can trust this information since she grew up around this

The goal of this research article was to show how it’s frowned upon for women to propose to

men. In this article Lisa explains the negative connotation of women proposing. If a women

propose to a man then she's automatically seen as “ desperate” or she's taking the man’s

masculinity away from him. Getting proposed to is something that’s very traditional so, it’s the

man’s job to propose. Lisa also explained how people sympathies towards women who propose

to their boyfriends, they feel as if the women is weak and has low self-esteem for proposing.

“ How does social media affect gender roles in relationships?’ For my hypothesis “

People will see women as weak and desperate for proposing to their boyfriends.” I have found

that most people see the women as desperate for proposing to their boyfriends. I’ve seen several

post on twitter of women proposing. In the comment section so many people frowned upon this,

many people said “ If he wanted to get married then he will propose” a mixture of both men and

women said this. I have come to the conclusion that women proposing to the men makes them

feel less as a man.

This article helped with my research because it does show that men are threatened by the

switch of gender roles when it comes to certain aspects such as proposing. This article shows

how much we've been conditioned into gender roles . When women do certain things in a

relationships that's viewed as a man’s job it’s unforgivable and you're taking away from his

masculinity.
Sexuality: Chris Brickell’s goal of this research was to understand social constructionism from a

sociological standpoint, in relations to gender and sexuality. The beginning question of this

research was “What is the sociological construction of gender and sexuality”? I’ve concluded

that social constructionism isn’t unified. There are many approaches and outcomes when looking

at the characteristics of gender and sexuality sociologically. Knowing that society makes up the

sociological construction these findings are helpful in knowing how social media has an effect on

gender norms.

This research focuses on the way the internet has a great impact on sexuality. To begin

this research the question “what are the effects the internet has on sexuality?”. I found that the

internet effect on sexuality has been divided into three categories; negative patterns, positive

connections, and commercial aspects. The findings in this research helps us focus on the effects

that social media has on sexuality

Media practice in today’s youth is at an all-time high. When speaking on the topic most

believe that the media; Television, Radio, Social media, ect. is the reason children are growing at

an expedite rate. Children also tend to have different media habits depending on their

surroundings. “Teenage sexuality and media practice: Factoring in the influences of family,

friends, and school” helps target on how one’s media habits differ. (Jeanne, Rogge, Steele, 2010)

The findings from this research concluded depending on the race, ethnicity, class status, and

development stage of a teenager media practices will be different. Previous research have been

said to conclude the same the thing. When researchers realized that a new generation was being

created and powered by android questions began to being asked. Researching generation I; some

may call it is still going on because the generation hasn’t end. Past studies and studies in the
making agree with the topic of the article cited. Due to the fact that GenI is still in the making the

existing research is flawed.

Gender norms have a big role in the bedroom and when asked Devin Douglas 19, he

agreed. People often believe that they must be consistent with gender norms to obtain others’

approval. (Sanchez, Crocker, Boike, 2005) Men are to be strong and dominate sexually at all

times and women are to be the exact opposite. Society has put such a strict policy on gender

norms that one is frightened to be comfortable with their sexuality; or what their sexuality is said

to be. Valuing gender norms negatively affects sexual pleasure for both men and women when

how much is valued is based on one's’ approval. (Sanchez, Crocker, Boike, 2005) It's rare to see

a man cry because society has made it weak for a man cry. Research article by Sanchez, Crocker,

and Boike, “Doing gender in the bedroom: investing in gender norms and sexual experience

addresses the topic. The authors of the article believe people who live by the gender norms tend

to base their self-esteem on others’ approval. Basing the way one views themselves on someone

else’s opinion will hurt the person sexually. That person will never be pleased. The article cited

focuses on those findings. The flaw in the findings would be that everyone sexual needs aren’t

the same. Research shows that some are sexually pleased from pleasing others.

When asking does social media have an effect on the gender norms, determining how

each gender uses social media is helpful. People believe that when it comes to posting pictures

and videos on social media others tend to make sure they look their best. The article “ Men are

from mars, women are from venus? Examining gender differences in self-presentation on social

networking sites, crafted by Haferkamp, Eimler, Papadiks, and Kruck focus on the self-

presentation of each gender. Men and women have different motives when using social media

affecting them to post themselves in different views. (Haferkamp, Eimler, Papadakis, Kruck,
2012) Research on gender differences in self presentation has previously shown that women

prioritize creating a positive image more than men. (Haferkamp, Eimler, Papadakis, Kruck,

2012)

Race: Gender and social norms in race is a very controversial topic of discussion for years

amongst society. Gender norms involved with race include the smallest entities such as

hairstyles, beauty concepts, and relationships with spouses and friends. Social media has played

a huge role on racial gender norms up until no. All races are stereotyped in some form of fashion

like african americans simply being black, “All muslims are terrorist”, “White people are crazy”,

“ Asians are smart” the list goes on. The topic of my research is how social media affects gender

norms within race and opinions. The purpose of my study is to show how social media like

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter affects gender norms in people thoughts on race.

Almost all research that was conducted before pertaining to race was the social norms in

adolescents and development. This study finds that a vast majority of most children and

adolescents have been taught their views on other races, rather than developed on their own. The

study also finds that a very large amount of their opinion on race comes from social views and

social media politics, and that it affects the school/work environent eventually.. The research

method that was used for this was theoretical research. This research also investigated the social

/ gender norms in teens and adults to help them understand better why race plays such a huge

role in gender norms. The gaps in the research were they didn't elaborate in how culture played

role in the way the people grow up viewing gender/social norms within a race. The research

method that was used for this study was evaluating different views on beauty standards and

moral views from different races while taking notes.

 The initial research was how gender norms were associated with race withing adolescents

and adults. This study predicted that most habits a formed in early stages of child development

and opinions are formed from initial interaction and interpretation. Gender norms in race with

women and men are completely different but the research also showed how social media targets

and belittles races. This study also shows that social media is very persuasive with adolescents

and dealing with gender norms. How social media has shaped what is beautiful and what isnt, as

well as whats proffesional and what isnt. The research method that was used was theoretical

research, some points this research aims to get at are geauty standars and racial views against

opposite races.

Hypothesis:

H1: Social media influences people practicing society gender norms within in their relationships.

Twitter is one of the largest social media platforms that people of all ages use. With that being

said people from different age ranges are able to express how they feel gender norms should be

in relationships. Seeing a variety of opinions is going to influence other peoples thoughts on how

gender norms should be within in a romantic relationship.

H2: How comfortable one is with their sexuality can influence the gender norms they might or

might not follow. A person comfortable with their sexuality is more likely to rebel against

society’s gender norms, while one uncomfortable will follow the trend.

H3: Gender norms in relationships (sexual and nonsexual) differ based on race, influenced by

social platforms.On most social media platforms, race is dicussed quite frequently. Most peoples

beliefs stem from childhood development and or trauma. Social media platforms allow people to

express their opinions somwhat freely and thats where we got majority of our research from.
Platforms like twitter will help us better elaborate on our research and prove our hypothesis.

Research Methods

Our research included 45 random people from Twitter. Twitter is social media where people

openly share their opinions. We asked 10 questions to get feedback on the thoughts of society

and how society effects the norms. Our survey was generated by survey monkey

(www.surveymoney.com) We also collected data by using cognitive research. We are still in the

process of interviewing people. So far, we have interviewed five random people.

Gender:

Female

Male

Age Range:

18-20

21-23

24 or older

Do you think it’s necessary to follow society norms in your relationships?

Yes

No

Should girls follow the society norm and wait until they’re married to have sex?

Yes
No

In a relationship, should the guy be responsible for everything financially?

Yes

No

On a scale from 1-10, (ten being the highest) How much of an effect does social media have on

society norms?

10

Are you comfortable with your sexuality?

Yes

No
Does social media effect how comfortable you are with your sexuality?

Yes

No

Do you believe that cultural stigmas were created throughout your childhood that developed into

everyday societal norms in race?

Yes

No

Would you date outside of your race?

Yes

No

Do you feel like certain beauty standards are set on social media?

Yes

No

Interview Questions:

1. Would You date a woman/man who is revealing on social media?

2. Does social media effect your view on different races?

3. Has social media made it accepting to be comfortable with the sexuality of others?

Results
Relationship: Twitter is for people to openly voice their opinions. Many people have voiced that

it’s okay for girls to be sexualy liberated and they don’t have to follow the typical gender norms

when it comes to dating. Because we all know the number one gender norm is that girls must

wait until they’re in a relationship to be sexually active. Twitter states “ It doesn’t matter if you

do it on the first night or three months down the road, if y’all are meant to be then it’ll be” or “

Having sex on the first night does not make you easy.” So that’s one relationship gender norm

that is invalid!

18 out of 45 participants believe women should wait until their married to have sex. 3 believe

that the man should be responsible for everything financial in the relationship; these 3

participants were men. These results are significant because it shows how society opinions have

changed over time. Women have been frowned upon for having sex before marriage. Three out

of the 14 men believing that men should be financially responsible shows social media has had

an positive effect on both men and women. Social media is slowly making it acceptable for a

woman to equal or higher in a relationship.

Based on the answers that I received I got a

mixture of results, some people agreed that

it’s best to stick with the normal gender

roles that way they won’t mess up the flow of a traditional relationship. Others believed that it’s

okay to mess up the normal flow of a traditional relationship. The ones who felt you must follow

traditional gender norms feel that domestic roles have genders and that’s why they must stick to

the normal roles. For example when asked if “Would You date a woman/man who is revealing

on social media? Why/Why not?” few answered, No because they think somethings should be
left for the imagination”. Being private about your body and your personal life is a traditional

gender norm that is mainly formed around women. Other opinions about this questioned caused

mixed reviews on how revealing one should be in a relationship.

Sexuality: 44 of the participants revealed that they are comfortable with their sexuality and 40 of

them said no to social media having an effect on that. It’s hard to measure this question because

a lot of people normally wouldn’t answer with truth. 13 people answered “8” being the level of

influence social media has on society. The results doesn’t correlate with the amount of people

that selected No after being asked does social media play a role in how comfortable they are with

their sexuality.

Participants were also asked to explain how social media has had an effect on how others

view one’s sexuality. A lot of the responses stated due to society being miseducated on sexual

cultural norms social media has had an easy way impacting how other reflect negativity on

sexuality. “I think social media can effect sexuality everything is subjective. You can inform,

express freely (for the most part) so it’s all about how you convey messages & perception.”

stated by a female participant from our interview. Because this participant added “for the most

part” when saying that you can express freely via Twitter, this statement supports H2. Twitter is

a very opinionated place and it is highly normal for one to feel pressure when putting certain

information out to the public. Research also proved that people are usually scared to to express

their sexuality. “Yes. I feel like In present time people focus a lot on other people’s sexuality.

Even more than their own sometimes. I also feel like people are scared to really be who they are

because of how others will treat them.”; also quoted from a female participant from our

interview, helps support H2. Due to sexuality being a sensitive subject in society it was difficult
to conclude results from our experiment. Most people aren’t honest when speaking on their

sexuality.

Race: Although thousands of cultures and communities exist around the world, and each one has

its own gender roles and norms. Our hypothesis is that gender norms in relationships differ based

on the race. People within the communities and societies are raised surrounded by these

stereotypes from the day they are born. Most of these classifications based on genders are passed

on generation-to-generation making them difficult to defy. In our research I found that most

people in their early childhood begin connecting specific characteristics to certain genders

unknowingly because of the environment they are exposed to. Social media platforms are the

tools they use to express the true feeling. Our study shows that social medie impacts more

woman than men. In our survey the question asked to 15 people was “How does social media

effect your view on different races?” Most people answered honestly sayinh things such as

“Social media has has some what of an influence on my personal opinions”, another person said

“ It definitely makes me look at different races differently. Seeing how people of Different races

act online and how disrespectful they are towards African Americans. It’s disturbing and

distasteful”. This supports our hypothesis because The consequences of classifying

characteristics and behaviors according to genders show in the business world when the people

reach adulthood. Only when these gender expectations are analyzed do people realize how

offensive some terms and categorizations can be, but usually importance is not given because

classifying has become a casual behavior.

Discussion:
Relationships: My results mean that not everyone believes they must stick to the traditional

gender norms in a romantic relationship. The results are important because they show that social

media doesn't have as big of an affect as I thought it would have on romantic relationships.

found my results to be similar as the other results that I studied. I believe we got the same

answers because we questioned people who were from the ages of 18-26. People within that age

range are still open minded and aren't stuck in their ways just yet. I think my conclusion

extended the theory of the previous studies because their is no wrong or right answer when it

comes to gender norms within a romantic relationship. People who are in a romantic relationship

can get help from my research, this can make a real world- difference because they can see that

not everyone follows traditional gender norms within a relationship, or if the want to follow the

traditional norms then its okay because other people follow them too. One thing that could've

been done better is, instead of posting my questions on twitter I could have used other social

media outlets like Instagram and Facebook. I also could’ve gotten opinions from older people

and people who have been in a relationship for more than two years. My suggestion for future

studies is to ask people from a variety of age ranges and people who are newly in a relationship/

been in a relationship for quite some time.

Sexuality: After looking at the results I found out that the correlation between social media and

sexuality is hard determine. Although the correlation is unclear the results are important because

it shows how people aren’t honest when speaking on their sexuality. The findings from the

previous literature and the finds from now are very similar. They both conclude that social media

has a both a negative and positive effect on society. Researching similar topics can cause for

similar findings. These findings may be the same based on the participants answers from the

research. After reviewing results my conclusions challenged the previous study. Bringing the
challenge of getting participants to be honest and open. For this study to make a real-world

difference people who are looking to be more confident in their sexuality and those who are

already comfortable.

Race:The results mean that majority of woman found that social media platforms such as twitter

do have an influence on personal opinions of race. Most men disagree and says they arent much

influenced by social media but in person traits. One thing our research had in common with

others literature is that social media is a big influence on people whether they realize it or not.

Depending on age, the affect varies. It also has other things in common like gender norms, and

how they play a role on peoples views on other race. Some findings were different but all had the

same results. I believe our conclusion confirms the theory and previous studies due to the fact

most studies align with ours. Most people know that race is a controversial and sensitive topic to

discuss but have no filter. I believe our research will help people to open their minds to the fact

social media has created stigmas that they themselves promote unknowingly. Discussing the

subjects and having the facts behind it make the argument factual. There is a lot of things that we

could do better if we were to conduct this again. Using more social media platforms to gain more

informatio to see which outlet is the most used by people. We also could’ve gotten more written

responses from our peers. If we were to utilize more people we would have had more

information to prove our theory.

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