--- title: "Jardin d'Essai: what algorithms have to do with sexism" url: "https://kimoun.com/en/blog/algorithms-sexism-jardin-essai-guadeloupe-en/" date: "2026-05-22" description: "On May 6, 2026, female students at Lycée Jardin d'Essai walked out. Behind the incident: the algorithms that normalise sexism — in conversation with researcher Audrey Robinel." category: "Analyses" --- # Jardin d'Essai: what algorithms have to do with sexism On May 6, 2026, female students at Lycée Jardin d'Essai walked out. Behind the incident: the algorithms that normalise sexism — in conversation with researcher Audrey Robinel. **On May 6, 2026, female students at Lycée Jardin d'Essai in Les Abymes walked out of class to say enough. The day before, a "tier list" ranking dozens of their classmates using humiliating categories and photos taken without consent had circulated on social media. Five complaints were filed. The regional education authority condemned the incident "in the strongest possible terms", activated a support unit, and launched disciplinary proceedings. What followed — the student mobilisation, the teachers' solidarity, the institutional response without any denial — deserves attention. Not just to denounce. To understand the mechanism.** *This article is co-written with Audrey Robinel, AI researcher, teacher at Lycée Jardin d'Essai, and lab manager of BIK'LAB — a community fab lab in Guadeloupe committed to equal opportunity in digital and tech careers.* --- ## What happened at Jardin d'Essai — and what came next > [!NOTE] > It is not the existence of sexism in a school in 2026 that is surprising. It is the speed and clarity with which students, teachers, and the institution all refused to let it pass. On Tuesday, May 5, 2026, a list circulates. A group of male students had extracted photos of their female classmates from their social media profiles — without consent — and ranked them in categories ranging from "top pick" to "wouldn't touch with a stick." A tier list. A gaming format. Applied to real people, their bodies, their perceived worth. The following morning, the female students are there before class. Not for media attention. To say this is unacceptable. They are joined by classmates — boys included — from other secondary schools and colleges across Guadeloupe. School WhatsApp groups buzzed all day to coordinate and raise awareness. I found the spontaneity and reach of that mobilisation across the entire Guadeloupe academy genuinely admirable. What also moved me, as a parent, was what came next. The head teacher stood with the students. Teachers spoke out. The education authority did not wait: firm condemnation, a support unit activated, disciplinary proceedings launched the same day. No institutional silence. No minimisation. Six male students summoned, several temporary exclusions, five complaints filed. The classification used by investigators: "dissemination of sexually explicit content generated by algorithm" — indicating that AI tools were likely involved in producing or altering the images. The same networks that had been used to circulate the list were used to organise the response. That is the first reversal worth noting. France Inter · News In Guadeloupe, female students targeted by degrading photomontages — investigation opened, 15 complaints filed Listen on radiofrance.fr ## Algorithms are doing their job. The problem is: which job. > [!NOTE] > A recommendation algorithm does not look for what is true or fair. It looks for what holds attention — and content that humiliates, ranks, or divides holds more attention than content that informs. After the mobilisation, Audrey Robinel wrote a note for his students. He titled it "The product is you." The first question he puts to them: > *How much do you pay for your social media? Nothing. So how do they make money? Advertising and selling your data. And to make even more? By keeping you captive as long as possible. Online, if you pay nothing, you are the product.* > > *— Audrey Robinel, AI researcher, teacher and BIK'LAB lab manager* The mechanism is simple once you see it. Content that triggers a strong reaction — anger, outrage, conflict, humiliating rankings — generates more engagement than neutral content. The algorithm pushes it mechanically. Over time, users see less variety and more content that mirrors their past reactions. That is the echo chamber: the circle closes, dissenting voices disappear, content creators push further and further to stay visible. On gender issues, this mechanism has documented consequences. Research published in 2024–2025 shows the role of YouTube and TikTok recommendation systems in amplifying misogynist and incel content — without any conscious human decision: the algorithm simply pushed what generated the most engagement. Movements like INCEL structured and radicalised themselves through these dynamics. Toxic influencers make a commercial living from it. The opposition between men and women has become a profitable conflict space for platforms. Audrey frames it precisely, in terms that deserve quoting directly: > *A man posts a shirtless photo of himself and gets praised for the muscle gains. A woman posts something similar — in sportswear — and immediately the sexist comments pile on. Some women choose to monetise their image. Others are simply being themselves, and end up in the same category. Control of their image slips away. On many platforms, women become the product being sold.* > > *— Audrey Robinel, AI researcher, teacher and BIK'LAB lab manager* This is not a metaphor. It is mechanical. --- ## AI in all of this: one more door opened AI-generated non-consensual imagery is one of the angles Audrey uses to make his students aware of the harms embedded in AI and algorithms — and their effect as social amplifiers: tools designed to maximise engagement that end up mechanically amplifying sexist and misogynist noise. The tools that generate sexualised images from existing photos are now accessible to any secondary school student — a few clicks, no technical skill required. This is one more form of sexual violence, with one particular feature: it is produced on demand, at scale, without the victim necessarily knowing, sometimes without her even being aware the images exist. Audrey is clear about it: behind this apparent ease lies real violence, a deliberate act, and lasting consequences for those targeted. He also opens up, as a teacher, to what else AI can do — its legitimate, creative, professional uses. Not to relativise. So that his students understand the difference between a tool and the use made of it. AI did not invent sexism. It gave it an accelerator. > [!WARNING] > AI-generated non-consensual imagery is a form of digital sexual violence. In France, producing or distributing such images carries criminal penalties — and the classification "dissemination of sexually explicit content generated by algorithm" used in the Jardin d'Essai case is the judicial confirmation of that. AI did not create the problem. It made it more accessible and harder to contain. ## BIK'LAB: the shared ground Audrey Robinel and I cross paths at BIK'LAB — a mobile, community-based science and digital fab lab in Guadeloupe. Its mission: digital inclusion for the people of the archipelago, with particular attention to those most distant from tech careers — women, young people from working-class neighbourhoods. > [!NOTE] > BIK'LAB has spent several years demystifying technology for the Guadeloupean communities furthest from these fields. Coding workshops, 3D printing, open-source electronics, media lab — mobile and rooted in the social reality of the archipelago. It is not a sufficient answer to algorithmic sexism. But it is the ground from which we speak here. The same tools used to humiliate students on May 5 were used to organise their response on May 6. Algorithms are neutral by design — and deeply directional in their effects. ## What can be done — without waiting The Jardin d'Essai mobilisation produced something rare: a fast, unambiguous institutional response. But the algorithm keeps running. A few concrete steps: learn to identify content designed to trigger a strong emotional reaction rather than to inform — anger, rankings, conflict. Deliberately diversify your sources to avoid getting locked in an echo chamber. And speak. What those students did on May 6 was not spectacular — it was simple and sufficient to trigger a collective response. The same algorithmic mechanisms apply to businesses: on questions of [online presence and digital visibility](https://kimoun.com/en/seo-geo-guadeloupe/), you can either be passive — subject to whatever platforms decide to show — or understand how the systems work well enough to take back some control. ## Sources - [Lycée Jardin d'Essai: female students demonstrate after sexist ranking list circulates online — La 1ère Guadeloupe](https://la1ere.franceinfo.fr/guadeloupe/lycee-jardin-d-essai-des-lyceennes-manifestent-apres-la-diffusion-d-une-liste-sexiste-en-ligne-1698328.html) - ["We just want justice": the female students of Jardin d'Essai unite — RCI Guadeloupe](https://rci.fm/guadeloupe/infos/Societe/veut-simplement-la-justice-les-lyceennes-de-Jardin-dEssai-sunissent-apres-la) - [Guadeloupe: female students mobilise against sexism and the incel movement — Révolution Permanente](https://www.revolutionpermanente.fr/Guadeloupe-des-lyceennes-se-mobilisent-contre-le-sexisme-et-le-masculinisme) - [School must become a sanctuary again — La 1ère Guadeloupe](https://la1ere.franceinfo.fr/guadeloupe/l-ecole-doit-redevenir-un-sanctuaire-apres-l-electrochoc-du-jardin-d-essai-comment-combattre-le-sexisme-a-l-ecole-1699738.html) - Original note: Audrey Robinel, "The product is you" — circulated internally after the May 6, 2026 mobilisation - [BIK'LAB — mobile science and community fab lab in Guadeloupe](https://www.lebiklab.fr/) - On algorithmic amplification of misogynist content: Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 2024 — [link](https://journalqd.org/article/download/4416/4412/15211) - Kimoun — [AI and marketing automation in Guadeloupe](https://kimoun.com/en/ai-automation-guadeloupe/)