Have you ever been called out on an anonymous app? Or more directly harassed on a social media platform? When it comes to cyber bullies it is being found that both the (perceived) gender of the harasser and the victim can change how the interaction happens online. Cyberbullying shows a power struggle with the victim usually having few ways to defend themselves, and very little ramifications for the harasser. Research shows that girls tend to engage in indirect bullying tactics while boys engage in direct ones. These indirect forms show as gossip, rejection, and exclusion of others, whereas direct forms show as physical threats, and direct persona shaming. Both males and females engage in these tactics, but gender does play a role in which tactic each tends to favor.
For my research I look into the comments from two genres of youtube video for females and males. I examined gaming and makeup tutorials and found a popular male and female from each category. For gaming, I found when the female gamer (iHasCupQuake ) made a mistake there were more degrading comments towards her intelligence and skill, whereas when the male gamer (Markiplier) made a mistake the commentaters showed a more helpful and understanding tone. For iHasCupQuake commentaters seemed annoyed when she was not doing something correctly and that they should not have expected much with her being a female. When it came to makeup tutorials similar patterns were found. The female (NikkieTutorials) showed much more harassment pertaining to her looks and skill level, but the male (James Charles) received, unsurprisingly, very homophobic remarks about wearing makeup. Both of the sets of YouTubers received negative or sexualized comments about their appearance and degrading comments pertaining to their personality, but the females received a larger percentage about their appearance and the males received more about their personality.
All of these findings were not very shocking as they just show the greater societal gender constructs in real life, that looking good is an important aspect to being a successful female and that when gender roles are broken some people tend to get upset. The interactions between cyberbullies and victims, while looking at gender, can show important relations and motivations behind the harassment. To understand how something is made can help us understand how something can be eliminated, and if the motives and mindsets of both parties are thoroughly examined, then strategies can be made to reduce and minimize cyberbullying occurrences.
Youtube is SUCH a toxic place for comments. I think part of it might have to do with the age of Youtube users...I've noticed through my own observations of comments that there are a TON of users between the ages of like 9 and 13. Age is no excuse for bullying by any means, but it's interesting that Youtube provides a catalyst for cyberbullying starting at such a young age.
ReplyDeleteThat's so true! Youtube analytics do tend to show much younger audiences tuning into to many different genres of channels, and (although you're right that it is no excuse) at such a young age i don't think these children are able to comprehend what they are doing when they post something cruel or problematic. Older childhood and young teenage years are a critical time for the development of empathy, and so these children are sitting behind a screen unable to see the facial expressions and pain in the people they are directing their message to. It makes me wonder how the "digital natives" of generation z and delta will be/are after their empathy forming years.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great topic especially looking into gender and YouTube and the comments being made based off of mistakes or other. Why do people read comments when there is a fair chance that the comments are hurtful and not supportive? I think this stems from people looking for approval and wanting to get even one positive comment out of 100. It seems like those responding know this formula as well and are not going to be he one to look like a wuss and say something nice because it rarely happens.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting to think about, especially because I am obsessed with Nikkie and James. I never thought about the differences in comments and interactions based on their genders, although it makes complete sense! It’s so sad to think that we’re still experiencing ignorance and hatred online in 2018 when all we really need is to simply care more about one another. Great topic!
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