In the digital era, women and girls should stay authentic and be comfortable in their own skin, rather than obsessing with editing photos to its perfection before posting on social media, said Jasmine Ariff, Country Lead of AccelerAsia.
“I think it starts with being authentic… but also trying to flip the narrative, to showcase how you really look, be proud and own it, rather than conforming to the norms that have been set by brands, who have a marketing team photo-shopping their images.”
Jasmine was among the speakers at a panel discussion, “Blooming Beyond Boundaries”, organised by a group of students at VERSO International School, to mark International Women’s day.
“I see many brands already starting that journey of trying to be inclusive, but I think it has to start from an individual capacity and appear more authentic online,” Jasmine explains.
Breaking barriers
Liberty Donaldson Persaud, a Grade 9 student leading the project, shares her perspective on how women and girls are over-stressed about their image, especially after seeing advertisements or photos of celebrities, influencers or even their peers on Instagram - without knowing whether they have been digitally-manipulated before the photos were posted.
Therefore, the main objective of the wholly student-run event is to combat objectification and unrealistic beauty standards, especially in the digital era, while also promoting a more realistic representation of women in modern society.
“The reason we chose this topic is because, around the world, especially in Asia, there are a lot of beauty standards for women and a lot of unrealistic ones,” she explains, adding that she wants to see such beauty standards being broken, where women of all sizes and colours are truly celebrated.
“So, we wanted to create this event to spread this message and encourage young girls to just be themselves and disregard these standards,” Liberty said.
“We like to celebrate, to empower women's rights, and bring up things that women have struggled with throughout the years,” Nichchamon “Nicky” Abdullor, another Grade 12 student behind the project says when explaining their mission.
“Sometimes women may be viewed as a toy or some kind of object, which men view not in a really good way, and that is something that has to be changed. We have to educate people in order for them to recognise that this is a problem,” she added.
Double-edged sword
Many speakers during the panel discussion felt that the rise of such technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), pose a threat to the viewers’ body image, their mental health and, most alarmingly, their safety in digital spaces.
Jasmine explains that the rise of AI also influences how women perceive themselves. One obvious example is how women and girls often use beauty apps, with some features allowing AI to “beautify” their appearance to meet unattainable beauty standards.
“So, the AI part contributes to a young woman’s mind when scrolling through social media, and they see a beauty standard that is not achievable and then they compare it to themselves. It’s like they think they're not enough, they need to do something more - usually through surgical intervention,” Jasmine explains.
Prawee Nonthapun, Director of Agoda, feels likewise, as she noted how AI-generated photos are always an over-sexualisation of women, which are mostly generated based on past photos on the Internet and portrays only one aspect of beauty that is widely accepted commercially.
“Every time you prompt ChatGPT to produce a particular woman, it's a beauty standard that is not for everyone, and you don't need to be of that beauty standard. So, we need to be very vigilant about the things that we consume, because we don't know if it's real or not,” said Prawee.
Another concern is the use of deepfake technology. This method is most prevalent among call centre scammers, where offenders will impersonate a police officer, using deepfake, to deceive victims and extort sums of money from them. The use of deepfake in match-making apps, to impersonate another person or to make themselves look more attractive to approach potential victims, is also common.
“What this does is diminish trust when it comes to interacting with people online, because they don't know anymore whether they are a real person or not,” Jasmine explains, adding “This is actually affecting people who have a genuine brand or a genuine person who's connecting with the world. Now everyone has to treat all content with skepticism.”
Meanwhile, Cindy Bishop, renowned Thai actress, model and gender equality advocate, describes the rise of AI as a double edged sword. She further explains that AI is growing rapidly, to a point where people are not understanding all the repercussions of it and what the impact could be, especially for youngsters, especially those that amplify unhealthy beauty standards, stereotypes or, in extreme cases, gender-based violence.
“I think it just comes down to making sure that we are very responsible with what we're watching or accessing online. Question everything, question every video, be careful of what you're sharing and don't add to the toxic noise. Also, how can we create a respectful society online and offline?” Cindy explains, adding that big tech companies should take more action and responsibility in tackling these problems.
Digital revolution
Apart from the detrimental beauty standards, online violence against women, especially with the rise of AI and digital technology spreading harmful stereotypes of women, is one of the most worrying phenomena.
“What is needed here really is an urgent effort to put in place better digital policies that regulate the use of AI and that hold social media platforms accountable for the online abuse that is perpetrated on their platforms,” Silke Staab, UN Women’s Research and Data Specialist explains, while adding that societies need to make sure that digital spaces are safe for all women and girls by combating online violence and harassment.
“Digital technologies could be such a powerful tool for advancing gender equality and women's empowerment. They can provide access to information, education and economic opportunities, but what we see is that women and girls still experience many barriers in these areas,” said Silke.
According to a recent report by UN Women, 53% of adult women around the world have experienced online or technology-facilitated violence at least once. These include image-based abuse, deepfakes and AI-facilitated hate speech and misinformation. Therefore, UN Women believes that a digital revolution for all women and girls is among the top priorities, to ensure their safety online.
By Nad Bunnag, Thai PBS World
