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Engineer changes her gender to male on all social media platforms. What happened next
A Nanotechnology and Material Science engineer conducted an experiment where she changed her gender to male on all her social media platforms.
Karen de Sousa Pesse, an engineer, recently took to LinkedIn to claim that she noticed a drastic change in the advertisements appearing on her social media platforms after she conducted a little experience. According to her, the pattern and the type of products advertised to her changed after she removed her gender as female and used male in all her social media platforms. She added that she conducted this experiment about two years ago.
“Around 2 years ago, I changed my gender to male on all social media. This is what happened next,” the engineer wrote. She added that she started getting more ads about “MBA, Executive Courses” and less about “baby products, children’s clothes”. She also listed the other differences in the ads appearing on her feed during her experiment.
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Take a look at the entire post here:
Since being shared a few hours ago, the post has collected more than 500 likes. It has also accumulated several comments.
What did LinkedIn users say about this share?
“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, 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,” posted a LinkedIn user.
“As I am slightly older than you, I don't get the stereotyped ads. I get the real estate, the money investments, the expensive holiday ones. It gets better with age,” shared another.
“Wow, what a great illustration of how stereotypes are kept alive and promoted. Thanks for sharing,” added a third.
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“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),” joined a fourth.
“I love this. Fantastic experiment that confirmed my own thoughts,” wrote a fifth.
According to her LinkedIn bio, Karen de Sousa Pesse is a Nanotechnology and Material Science Engineer who has “lived, studied, and worked” in several countries “across America, Europe, and Asia”. She started her career as a junior researcher assistant and has been a part of organisations like IBM and Microsoft.
What are your thoughts on this post by the engineer about what happened when she changed her gender on social media platforms?
(HT.com cannot independently verify the claim)
