"Without AI, I Would Never Share This Online": Unpacking How LLMs Catalyze Women's Sharing of Gendered Experiences on Social Media

A research team from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The Chinese University of Hong Kong has published a groundbreaking study on arXiv, conditionally accepted to CHI 2026, titled "Without AI, I Would Never Share This Online." The paper investigates a growing trend on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, where women are posting about personal gendered experiences alongside screenshots of their conversations with Large Language Models (LLMs). The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 women to understand how these AI interactions facilitate sharing of content that users would typically keep private due to external concerns like backlash and internal standards about what's "appropriate" to share.

The study reveals that LLMs serve as a crucial intermediary tool, helping women articulate complex emotions, validate their experiences, and refine their narratives before posting publicly. This practice allows users to meet their own high standards for sharing while mitigating fears of judgment. The findings suggest that AI can be strategically leveraged to support vulnerable self-expression online, though the authors emphasize the need for careful, critical implementation. This research provides empirical evidence for how generative AI is transforming social media dynamics and personal storytelling, particularly for marginalized voices navigating sensitive topics.