New campaign uses real Google searches to expose how the world talks about women

Type in "women need to" and the resulting suggested search terms may shock you

Published October 20, 2013 6:52PM (EDT)

    (UN Women)
(UN Women)

A new campaign out from UN Women uses Google autocomplete to expose the sexism and misogyny that continues to characterize how we talk about women.

The search function predicts and displays search terms based on the activity of other web users; the more popular a search term, the higher up it will be on the list of suggested searches.

As the campaign demonstrates, when you type in "women need to," Google recommends searches for "women need to be put in their place," "women need to know their place," "women need to be disciplined" and "women need to be controlled."

These are real search results from September 2013.

Simple concept. Alarming results.

via Behance


By Katie McDonough

Katie McDonough is Salon's politics writer, focusing on gender, sexuality and reproductive justice. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com.

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Gender Inequality Sexism Un Women Violence Against Women Women's Rights