A new study has revealed that publicly tweeting about sexism may improve a woman's wellbeing as it has the potential to let them express themselves in ways that feel like they can make a difference.
A new study has revealed that publicly tweeting about sexism may improve a woman's wellbeing as it has the potential to let them express themselves in ways that feel like they can make a difference.
Mindi Foster from Wilfrid Laurier University explained that they know women can be badly affected by experiences of sexism and that responding publically can be stressful and risky and this study examined whether using Twitter to respond to sexism could be done in a public way without any negative effects to their wellbeing.
A total of 93 female undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions regarding tweeting over a three day period. All participants received information over the three days regarding topical issues around sexism in politics, the media and in universities for them to tweet about.
One group was required to tweet publically, another privately and the third group did not tweet at all. They received no instructions regarding the number or the content of tweets they should undertake.
Analysis showed that the group of women who tweeted publically displayed feelings of increased wellbeing by the third day. Neither of the other two groups showed any changes in wellbeing.
Foster added that they know that popular online campaigns such as EverydaySexism have empowered women to speak out and share their experiences. However, this study demonstrates how tweeting publically has the potential to improve women's wellbeing.
Foster noted that more research is required to understand whether this form of collective action has any further health benefits.
The study is published in the British Journal of Social Psychology.
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