Engineer Changes Her Gender To Male On Social Media: What Happened Next Is An Eye-Opener
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live as the opposite gender? Many women have likely pondered this at some point in their lives. Engineer Karen de Sousa Pesse decided to turn this curiosity into reality by presenting herself as a man¡ªat least on social media. What happened next was truly eye-opening.
Female to male on social media
Two years ago, Karen de Sousa Pesse decided to switch her gender from female to male on all her social media platforms.
"Around 2 years ago, I changed my gender to male on all social media. This is what happened next," Pesse wrote on LinkedIn.?
She highlighted the following changes she noticed on her 'male' social media profile:
- No more ads about baby products, children's clothes, and family activities.
- Many more ads about pursuing an MBA, executive courses, and career advancement.
- No more ads about pregnancy tests, menstrual products, or undergarments.
- Many more ads about luxurious holidays, sports cars, and real estate.
- No more ads about finding an expat job as a cleaning lady.
- Many more ads about finding an expat job as a street cleaner and bus driver.
- New ads about managing finances, investing, and growing wealth.
- A massive amount of ads about politics.
This experiment actually revealed how we are targeted with gender stereotypes daily, even in the form of 'innocent' ever-present ads.
Check out her post here:
How did people react?
One person commented, "Wow, what a great illustration of how stereotypes are kept alive and promoted."
Another said, "Really interesting experiment, indeed! Marketing is based on stereotypes... but what if 'smarter' marketers started questioning the status quo? I wonder if some of the big companies would be willing to do such an experiment (of marketing to a non-stereotyped audience) and report on the outcomes¡"
Another user shared, "I did this too, but it wasn't exactly an experiment :-). What I can add to this list: a massive amount of ads about working out, growing muscles, clothes that make you look more muscular, and soaps that smell nice to women. (Body positivity doesn't really exist for men yet). And a lot of ads about meals that are healthy but don't require any cooking skills."
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