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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nC<\/span>ast your mind back a decade or so, and Reddit didn\u2019t exactly have the best reputation. The sprawling online discussion platform was known as one of the more dubious parts of the internet, a haven for trolls and incels. Popular subreddits (online communities dedicated to a particular topic) seemed to celebrate misogyny. There, the manosphere thrived, and so-called revenge porn was just about tolerated until 2015, when it was made illegal. <\/p>\nReddit essentially felt very much like the dark underbelly of the online world, a vaguely more socially acceptable cousin of grimier, shadowier places like 4chan. None of this, of course, made it particularly appealing to women. Why would we go somewhere with a user base that appeared to actively disdain us? <\/p>\n
But over the past few years, this manosphere-adjacent corner of the web has had a bit of a reputational makeover. Reddit bosses outright removed plenty of offensive subreddits rather than just banning specific users. And they introduced automated moderation processes, to help assist the community moderators (essentially volunteers who police each subreddit) in digging out bad behaviour. <\/p>\n
In an era when many social media giants take a pretty hands-off approach to content moderation, Reddit seems to have provided a lesson in how to tighten things up without eroding the site\u2019s personality. What is particularly striking is the fact that Reddit is now the fastest growing social platform for women in the UK; over here and in the United States, women currently account for more than 50 per cent of its users. The site is now fourth-highest-reaching social platform in the country, ahead of TikTok, and over 116 million people used the site globally last year. Half of its 30 million UK users were women.<\/p>\n
Nicole Heard, the site\u2019s regional lead for the UK, Nordics, Netherlands, Canada and Australia, recently suggested that many women now see Reddit as a \u201cvital collective handbook for navigating day-to-day life\u201d \u2013 and I\u2019m now one of them. Although I\u2019m a \u201clurker\u201d – someone who reads the forums \u2013 rather than a \u201cposter\u201d, I\u2019ve found the site to be a surprisingly solid source of advice, and a much-needed corrective to the overly glossy highlights reels endemic to almost every other social platform. <\/p>\n
My gateway to Reddit? Adult acne. Last summer, my skin seemed to declare war upon me with the worst outbreak of spots I\u2019ve ever experienced. Attempting to remedy it took up vast swathes of brain space and emotional energy; there is something deeply dispiriting about being in your mid-thirties while still grappling with a skin condition that\u2019s synonymous with teenagers drenched in Clearasil. <\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>The app can be a source of advice and validation for many users (Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nDuring one of my many late night scrolling sessions attempting to track down some miracle cure, I found myself on the Reddit thread r\/SkincareAddiction. Subreddits like this one ended up as one of my most valued sources for advice, filled with frank and honest reviews about the purported wonder products being touted by influencers, and progress pictures that felt authentic, rather than uncannily AI-generated. <\/p>\n
Hearing about the experiences of others in the same situation was a salve, too (reading the responses to one popular post \u2013 headlined \u201cHaving adult acne is so humiliating\u201d \u2013 felt so validating, it nearly made me cry). Reddit also encourages its users to be anonymous, glorifying in the kind of usernames teenagers made up for chatrooms in the 00s, which means that users tend to pour their hearts out in a way you don\u2019t necessarily see on other platforms, where the emphasis is more on peacocking and posturing. <\/p>\n
The anonymity also means it\u2019s a goldmine for advice on the stuff that can be difficult to chat about, whether that\u2019s a relationship problem that feels too fraught to bring up with your partner, or a friendship struggle that you can\u2019t raise with mates for obvious reasons. Reddit provides a salutary lesson in the fact that if you\u2019re having a problem, someone else has probably been there before. <\/p>\n\n
\nUsers tend to pour their hearts out on Reddit in a way that you don\u2019t necessarily see on other platforms<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
When modern dating can feel like a minefield, reading about scenarios eerily similar to the ones you\u2019re living out can be very validating indeed (a bit depressing, too, but mainly validating). And yes, there\u2019ll be a few sarcastic or bad faith comments, but most of the responses seem heartfelt, optimistic and understanding (pretty much the opposite of anything you\u2019ll consume over on Elon-era Twitter\/X). <\/p>\n
As a woman in her forties, Alison Johnston acknowledges that she is \u201cprobably not [the] usual type\u201d of Reddit user, but she is in fact an early adopter, having been on the platform since 2010. As the owner of a marketing agency, she has discovered it is a good source of business guidance. \u201cThe culture is not to push your services, so it\u2019s often very honest and helpful advice,\u201d she says. And, like me, she has found it \u201cgreat for product recommendations such as where to get the best red light therapy mask\u201d. <\/p>\n
What she finds most helpful is the way users will generally \u201cfact check, ask for proof or sources, downvote or question anything which seems odd\u201d, which, in the age of AI content, can provide an important sense check. \u201cI like getting people\u2019s takes on things, hearing directly about their experiences, rather than having that digested for me,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Kat Rodway, who works in digital marketing for First Internet, says she gravitates to Reddit \u201clargely for the honest discussion \u2013 it\u2019s one of the few platforms where people still feel genuinely unfiltered\u201d. During pregnancy and while navigating the newborn stage, she would use it \u201calmost like the new Mumsnet\u201d, as well as \u201cfor beauty and skincare research to get real-life opinions rather than polished recommendations\u201d (this one feels like a recurring theme). <\/p>\n
And for me, at least, perhaps what\u2019s most heartening is the knowledge that whatever curveball life lobs at you, there\u2019s most likely a sympathetic online space filled with people who are managing exactly the same situation. Last year, I ended up having to simultaneously navigate a pretty spectacular ghosting while also grieving a much-loved family member. It was an emotional double whammy that I wouldn\u2019t wish on anyone \u2013 and while I wasn\u2019t exactly thrilled to see that other users on the r\/ghosting subreddit had faced a similar grief\/ghost combo, I did feel reassured to read how they\u2019d got through it. I\u2019ll never know who those people were, but I\u2019m glad they shared their stories.<\/p>\n
Of course, no social media platform is perfect. Unfortunately, there will probably always be trolls; if you dig deep into its recesses to look for, ahem, less wholesome topics, I\u2019m sure that you can find them. But as one of my wise friends puts it, \u201cit\u2019s actually a really great space if you carefully curate what you look at\u201d. Her favourite subreddits? The ones dedicated to The Archers <\/em>and to Bravo reality shows like Real Housewives<\/em>. Women contain multitudes, after all. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Cast your mind back a decade or so, and Reddit didn\u2019t exactly have the best reputation. The sprawling online discussion platform was known as one of the more dubious parts of the internet, a haven for trolls and incels. Popular subreddits (online communities dedicated to a particular topic) seemed to celebrate misogyny. There, the manosphere thrived, and so-called revenge porn was just about tolerated until 2015, when it was made illegal. Reddit essentially felt very much like the dark underbelly of the online world, a vaguely more socially acceptable cousin of grimier, shadowier places like 4chan. None of this, of course, made it particularly appealing to women. Why would we go somewhere with a user base that appeared to actively disdain us? But over the past few years, this manosphere-adjacent corner of the web has had a bit of a reputational makeover. Reddit bosses outright removed plenty of offensive subreddits rather than just banning specific users. And they introduced automated moderation processes, to help as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}