How Different Genders Use Profanity on Twitter?

Abstract

Social media, is often the go-to place where people discuss their opinions and share their feelings. As some platforms provide more anonymity than others, users have taken advantage of that privilege, by sitting behind the screen, the use of profanity has been able to create a toxic environment. Although not all profanities are used to offend people, it is undeniable that the anonymity has allowed social media users to express themselves more freely, increasing the likelihood of swearing. In this study, the use of profanity by different gender classes is compiled, and the findings showed that different genders often employ swear words from different hate categories, e.g. males tend to use more terms from the "disability" hate group. Classification models have been developed to predict the gender of tweet authors, and results showed that profanity could be used to uncover the gender of anonymous users. This shows the possibility that profiling of cyberbullies can be done from the aspect of gender based on profanity usage.