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Female influencers

Motorbikes, fashion and daily abuse 鈥 the life of a female influencer

After the fatal shooting in Pakistan of a teenage social media influencer, Sana Yousaf, we bring together female influencers around the world to share their experiences.

Sana鈥檚 death has ignited a fierce debate about women on social media and the safety of influencers. We hear from three women in Pakistan. Between them, they have hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but face abuse every day.

Zenith Irfan is the first woman to ride a motorbike solo across Pakistan, Mahnoor Rahim is a fashion influencer, and Sabah Malik is a comedian and cultural commentator in the country.

鈥淚 truly believe that just being a happy confident woman is enough to really trigger people,鈥 Sabah tells us. 鈥淎nd when you add the accessibility to seeing us doing that online, it really upsets people.鈥

You don鈥檛 have to look far on any social media channel to see that wherever there鈥檚 online content, there are unpleasant or abusive comments. But when that content is generated by women, negative comments are often personal, misogynistic or threaten violence. Female influencers in the US, Mexico City and Peru share advice on how they stay safe.

Presenter: Mark Lowen
蜜芽传媒 producer: Laura Cress
Boffin Media producer: Richard Hollingham

An EcoAudio certified Boffin Media production in partnership with the OS team.
(Photo: Zenith Irfan, social media influencer. Credit: Mihaela Noroc)

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Jun 2025 11:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 13 Jun 2025 19:06GMT
  • Sat 14 Jun 2025 08:06GMT
  • Sat 14 Jun 2025 15:06GMT
  • Sat 14 Jun 2025 18:06GMT
  • Sat 14 Jun 2025 23:06GMT
  • Sun 15 Jun 2025 11:06GMT