Social media encourages people to interact with each other, boosting one’s confidence to post themselves online. Women began doing trends on social media, supported by people online, a space for self-acceptance, ruined by people who then comment disgusting things.
Simple photos of women online have been pestered by people, most of the time, men. Sexualizing these women, thinking as if it won’t hurt them. What’s more disturbing is that it even began as a culture that has been circulating online. The concept of male gaze and goon culture, a self-pleasure culture involving sexualizing people they see online. Implying that women are objects of men’s pleasure, specifically in visual arts and the media.
Deep fakes have also been a way for this to be fulfilled. With public figures being mainly the subject of this, figures such as the Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu, Stranger Things star Nell Fisher, and even Korean idols. As disturbing as it sounds, these incidents are real, a source of constant fear and anxiety to many, especially women.
With that being said, women in the lens of predators became a subject only for pleasure. In which even if one casually posts online, the hungry gaze of a man is out there. Social media should be a way for people to express themselves and show who they are, but not to the point that the goon culture became a sensation. An absolutely disgusting and disturbing culture that began in today’s age.
These so-called cultures are not some niche aesthetic that a person should be following in order to be updated. Photos and videos posted online by women, and even men, should remain as that, and not a source of pleasure for some perverts who think sexualizing people is cool. That even if it gives pleasure to some maniacs, it costs a lot to the victims, who definitely did not ask for it. The trauma and fear one can face just by opening their accounts is not something to be normalized. Let the woman be, man up, and stop being a jerk who thinks goon culture is cool.
Written by Jannah Jamila Dang-awan (Begonia), Insight PH
Jannah Jamila Dang-awan (Begonia), Insight PH is a dedicated campus journalist and contributor. Their insightful writing sparks meaningful conversations and keeps the community informed.
