Over the influence Why social media is toxic for women and girls - and how we can take it back

College communication professor and journalist Alaimo makes a convincing case that social media has had a profoundly negative effect on the lives of women and girls, and that if we are to harness all the good it can potentially do, we need to demand change from tech companies, lawmakers, and ourselves as users. Extensive research and input from experts provide a thought-provoking journey through just about every aspect of the social media landscape, but the book is at its strongest when Alaimo shares the personal experiences of the diverse array of women and nonbinary people she interviewed for the book. Together, their stories provide a fascinating look at social media topics readers really care about, such as body image, the constant judgment of women, online dating, sexual violence and exploitation, the spread of misinformation, online abuse, and the challenges faced by women who work as social media managers and influencers. There are solutions here too, in the form of solid ideas to help transform social media into a force for good for women and girls.

Alaimo (Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street), a professor of public relations at Hofstra University, offers an uneven overview of the state of online misogyny. Arguing that social media (a catchall she uses to mean people interacting online) has had seismic negative effects on female users, she surveys multiple well-trod examples, including the promotion of unrealistic body expectations by altered images and "sextortion"--the sexual blackmailing of girls by boys threatening to release nude photos. She also intriguingly ventures into less familiar ground, noting that women report having less satisfaction with online dating than men ("The majority of American women say dating is harder than it was ten years ago.... The majority of men disagree"), and that women are more susceptible to misinformation about health and wellness ("The vast, overwhelming majority of rank-and-file members are women"). But Alaimo's argument gets shaky as she attempts to encompass too many phenomena, such as in her defense of Karenesque meltdowns. "People have discovered they can make bank by secretly recording women's worst moments in public and selling the rights... so the whole world can come together to shame us," Alaimo writes, seeming to misunderstand that many such clips are likely staged. The result is an impassioned denunciation of the damage being done online to women and girls that lacks firm analytical footing. (Mar.)