In the digital age where youth are constantly online and often lack strong role models in their real lives, content creators and influencers have emerged as their powerful parasocial mentors. These advisers — shaped by gender ideals — deepen the divide between boys and girls, reinforcing vastly different perspectives and values.
Who are some young women looking up to today online? What questionable advice is being followed like gospel truth by thousands of impressionable teenage girls?
Many young girls aspire to be a so-called high-value woman rather than the typical corporate girlboss figure. A portion of the internet has been taken over by self-proclaimed high-value female influencers who preach about using femininity as a weapon against our patriarchal society.
While the corporate girlboss gains her success from financial independence and professional achievements, the high-value woman leverages her appearance and submissive persona to attract wealthy men as a form of empowerment. She reframes traditional gender roles, relying on a man’s income and protection as modern empowerment.
The high-value woman craze among many young girls can be traced back to Lize Dzjabrailova, commonly known as The Wizard Liz. Dzjabrailova has amassed a huge following of young women who put her and her every word on a pedestal. She and Leticia Padua, also known as Shera7, are the face and voice of the high-value influencer genre.
The term high-value is a commonly used buzzword in the red-pill community, a misogynistic online subculture that believes society favors women over men. Hence, the group promotes traditional gender roles and men in positions of power.
While “high-value” was originally used to describe wealthy men in the red-pill community, a high-value woman presents herself as rich, beautiful and shamelessly confident in her femininity.
Dzjabrailova’s life is seen as the ideal, despite her past traumas. This blend of excellence and vulnerability assures women who are still finding themselves that they, too, can achieve this proclaimed perfect life — if they follow her advice. But the perfect life is steeped in deep-rooted misogyny and promotes a financial reliance on men.
Although Dzjabrailova’s advice on inner confidence can be helpful at times, the notion that women must be spoiled by men in relationships promotes an unbalanced dynamic. For example, in her “How to receive princess treatment” video, Dzjabrailova insinuates that a man’s value solely lies in having a provider mindset and being able to financially support a woman.
The high-value mindset leads young women to internalize the belief that financial success is inherently male-centric, weakening their confidence in their ability to lead or be independent. This deeply gendered framework subtly upholds a monetary hierarchy that places women below men, undermining the very empowerment it claims to bring.
The philosophy also attempts to frame the gold-digger stereotype as feminist, suggesting that women like Dzjabrailova are high-value and therefore entitled to financial reward in relationships. But the idea of high-value women implies that there are low-value women, perpetuating a damaging belief that reduces women’s worth to the amount of money they get from their partner.
This type of content drives the divide between Generation Z men and women through framing heterosexual relationships as power struggles — each side encouraged to manipulate or outmaneuver the other. While men are told to look down on women, women are told to maximize their value and prioritize wealth in looking for a partner.
Not to mention, promotion of the high-value concept also fosters competition between women for male validation and undermines the broader goals of feminism — equality and mutual respect regardless of socioeconomic status or romantic appeal.
Meanwhile, there are no online content creators in the red-pill community telling men to be high-value specifically for the sake of a woman. Instead, this term is framed as a way for men to gain power and status in modern dating — often to maximize options rather than to build authentic relationships. Men are often fed misogynistic content from their internet algorithms, so it is a shame that young women receive content that appears to be empowering but has similar messages of misogyny.
Young people online need to critically examine each of their content creator role models. At the end of the day, they are still flawed humans with flawed logic. By removing these people from a pedestal of perfection, everyone can finally begin to see the harmful, patriarchal stereotypes that they promote.
Deanza Andriansyah is an Opinion Staff Writer. She can be reached at dandrian@uci.edu.
Edited by Joshua Gonzales.