Ditch the Label is one of the largest anti-bullying charities in the world. Each month, thousands of young people are supported by the charity online through pioneering support programs. The charity recently collaborated with Brandwatch to conduct a piece of research to better understand the landscape of abusive language and discourse around prejudice and bullying on social media, in addition to developing a greater understanding of masculinity constructs. In this talk, DTL's CEO Liam Hackett and Brandwatch Research Manager Ed Crook will discuss their approach to the research, share some key findings and talk about the impact they had on the important work done by the charity.

1. Ditch The Label
Gender constructs in the digital age
ED CROOK/ RESEARCH MANAGER, BRANDWATCH LIAM HACKETT/ CEO, DITCH
THE LABEL

2. NOW YOU KNOW | #NYKCONF
BRANDWATCH.COM
Liam Hackett
@DiageoLiam
CEO, DitchThe Label
ditchthelabel.org
Ed Crook
@ed_crook
Research Manager, NA& LATAM
brandwatch.com

3. Project
Background

4. About Ditch The Label
We’re one of the largest anti-bullying charities in the
world, helping teens aged 12-25 to overcome bullying
through digital mentorship, advice guides and
campaigns.
Here are a few things that make us different:
● We’re digital
● Our proposition as a youth brand
● Our emphasis on research
● Proactive and reactive support
We work across the UK, USA and Mexico. It’s estimated
that every 3 minutes, 1 young person benefits from Ditch
the Label support.

5. ● Findings from The Annual Bullying Survey 2016 show that males are
more likely to bully and least likely to report bullying.
● We know that suicide is the biggest killer of young men.
● Toxic masculinity leads to war, crime and violence.
● Majority of young girls want to change their appearance.
● Young girls don’t think they are good enough for male-dominated
industries.
Why we needed this
research

6. ● We usually use surveys to conduct our research, but the key
limitation is social bias.
● Social data is more observational and less biased, in a way.
● Social media is so parallel to our audience and their identity, it made
sense to incorporate social data into our research strategy.
● It gave us access to a huge amount of publicly available data with
complex analysis.
Why social research?

7. Methodology

8. BRANDWATCH.COM
Challenge
When segmenting by regions and demographics:
• Population density
• Social media use
Solution
• Two queries, one for insults and one for neutral debate
Extraneous variables

9. BRANDWATCH.COM
“ Don’t be such a little bitch
about it “
“ That bimbo needs to sit
down“
“ He is just a misogynistic,
narcissistic, whiney little
bitch, How idiotic.“
“ You should be allowed to
do ur thing, be a slut, do
what you want!“
Defining misogyny

10. BRANDWATCH.COM
Defining masculinity
Challenge
• Researcher bias
Solution
• Define construct using
• social data.

11. Findings

12. BRANDWATCH.COM
Defining masculinity

13. BRANDWATCH.COM
Attitudes towards masculinity constructs
12%
21% 20%
14%
8%
7% 6%
6%
11%
6%
10%
4%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Preferences Personality Behaviour Appearance
PERCENTAGEOFMENTIONS
ASPECTS OF MASCULINITY
Other
Proud
Educating
Humor
Sarcastic
Neutral
Questioning
Struggling
Frustration
Anger

14. BRANDWATCH.COM
Reactions to nonconformity
1%
2%
2%
2%
3%
5%
8%
21%
32%
33%
Upset/Disappoint
ed
Discouraging
Persuading
Suprised/Shocke
d
Teasing (Mean)
Agreeing
Encouraging
Teasing (Humor)
Supporting
Neutral/Indifferent
9%
Negative
30%
Neutral
61%
Positive

15. BRANDWATCH.COM
Misogynistic language more common among
females
Sexual
promiscuity
Animal
Appearance
Sexual
orientation
Intelligence
Sexual
anatomy
Male UK Male US Female UK Female US
52% 53%
48% 47%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Misogynistic
insults
Discussion
about misogyny
%MENTIONS
Male
Female

16. BRANDWATCH.COM
Educators play pivotal role in gender debate
MoreDebateMoreHateSpeech
-100
-50
0
50
100
Transphobia
Homophobia
Masculinity
Misogyny
Educators
Family & Parents

17. BRANDWATCH.COM
Gender constructs tied to other discrimination
RACISM TRANSPHOBIA HOMOPHOBIA MASCULINITY MISOGYNY REPUBLICAN DEMOCRAT
MASCULINITY 0.241 0.581 0.431 0.560 0.605 0.340
MISOGYNY 0.741 0.505 0.528 0.560 0.311 -0.929
RACISM TRANSPHOBIA HOMOPHOBIA MASCULINITY MISOGYNY TURNOUT 2015
LONG TERM
UNEMPLOYMENT
MASCULINITY 0.279 -0.443 0.157 0.376 0.128 0.101
MISOGYNY 0.632 -0.334 0.752 0.376 -0.307 0.405
US
UK

18. Next steps

19. Brands challenging masculinity constructs
BRANDWATCH.COM

20. • Helps us better understand the issues so that we can
adapt our support programmes online.
• Helps us bring awareness to the issues and to
encourage societal debate - the knowledge is now
freely available.
• Will feed into our future campaigns and materials for
young people.
How will we use the data?

21. Q&A

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BRANDWATCH.COM
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