fjp-latinamerica: Homophobia, machismo and...

fjp-latinamerica:

Homophobia, machismo and classism in the Mexican Tweetosphere

#Puto (fag), #Zorra (whore), #Prole (poor), #Naco (tacky –this is actually a very rough translation) and #Indio (indigenous) are some of the most common hashtags used in Mexico to insult others on Twitter, according to Tweetbalas, a new, artsy, and very innovative experimental platform sponsored by the Mexican National Commission to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred).

Tweetbalas, which also is co-sponsored by Ogilvy and the Museum of Tolerance in Mexico City, analyzed 31 of the most offensive hashtags used by Mexican Twitter users for two months and came up with its results two days ago.

Through Tweetbalas web-based platform, one can pinpoint who’s using some of these offensive, discriminatory hashtags. Here’s an example:

@pucho93: JJJ is another great example of a stupid teacher. He organizes many female soccer tournaments. #fag

Bullets: The name of the experiment, Tweetbalas (Tweetbullets), reflects the fact that words may hurt, said Ricardo Bucio, president of Conapred. To illustrate this, every 20 offensive tweets detected by the platform, a Gotcha rifle shoots a paintball into a wall with the word Mexico inside a special hall in the Museum of Tolerance.

FJP: What we found innovative here is the combination of web based platforms and social media to make evident the tension between the freedom of speech and discrimination.

Image: The wall at the Museum of Tolerance via International Business Times