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YouTube and Female
Sexuality
Worksheet 4
Theresa Gould
Margaret Daher
Yinyue Hu
Rebecca Jakob
Megan Beck
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YouTube is part of the larger, integrated mediascape of Web 2.0. As anthropologist Mike
Wesche of the University of Kansas elucidates in his own YouTube video commentary, it
has the potential to initiate transformative changes of great magnitude because it allows
humans to connect in ways they never have before. It necessitates the rethinking of
paradigms and issues that intertwine themselves in our lives. These include copyright,
authorship, ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, governance, privacy, commerce, love, family,
identity and, ultimately, ourselves.
The development of Web 2.0 is not only significant because of the changes it initiates in
us, but also because when media forms change, human relationships change. YouTube is
a platform for mediating human relationships and thus invites the reconstitution of
connections between human beings. The ways in which each party conceptualizes his or
her identity is a fundamental element of relationships, and therefore the ways in which
YouTube affect it merit serious study. Of the many components of identity, sexuality
plays a key role in the expression of it.
One witnesses expressions of sexuality in a myriad of ways. The advent of new
technologies has provided a new avenue through which women can express their sexual
identity, which we anticipate has wide-reaching consequences for the evolution of human
relationships. Therefore, we are studying expressions of female sexual identity on
YouTube. This study stems from our curiosity about the dynamics that have appeared in
the emerging relationship between women and the digital environments in which they
establish a presence, questions of how technology affects awareness of self, and how an
awareness of self gained from interaction with YouTube affects notions of identity,
behavior, interaction, and communication outside of the YouTube platform. We want to
determine whether women present their sexual identity using technology as a means to
achieving a particular end; perhaps these are efforts to attain celebrity, power, or a source
of self-worth. This research would therefore offer us insight about the society in which
we live.
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Studying this topic poses several challenges. We are examining the shifting of cultural
norms in the context of the emergence of new forms of communication, and YouTube in
particular. Part of our motivation for choosing this topic is that in our own experiences
we have witnessed what we perceive to be women presenting themselves online in a
sexualized and objectified manner. However, because of varying interpretations of what
constitutes behavior that reflects these terms, and the potential controversy that can
surround the study of sexuality, we acknowledge that we must be conscientious and
meticulous about the ways in which we pursue this study academically.
(see “The Machine is Using Us” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g)
Further, this is particularly difficult to study because we're looking at the shifting of
cultural norms, the emergence of new forms of communication, YouTube culture, and,
specifically, the trend of women who knowingly objectify themselves in a sexualized
manner. We want to ask what motivates these women to present themselves in
objectified ways, and what role does the YouTube form play in the shaping of these
certain kinds of behavior.
Research Gap (Generally):
Ethnographies of YouTube have been done, but we have not found anything specifically
focusing in on female sexual culture on YouTube. This research is important because it
is asking us to examine the emergence of new cultural norms, behaviors, and whole
forms of communication. Increasingly, women know themselves through representations
of themselves online. But this begs the question: How are women choosing to represent
themselves and why (economics, power relations, etc)? We believe this to be a fastgrowing phenomenon that requires further study.
Disciplines:
(1) Gender Theory
Gaze Theory, Semiological Deconstruction, Multiple-Identity Creation, Performance
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“I am seen and I see that I am seen” – Nicholas Mirzoeff
Gaze theory is rooted in the psychoanalytic movement of the mid-twentieth century.
Jacques Lacan described “the mirror stage gaze” as a permanent structure of subjectivity
in which the subject is forever caught and captivated by her own image. As Lacan notes,
the mirror stage gaze describes an “essential libidinal relationship with the body-image.”
Lacan’s work has been adapted and modified by gender theorists such as Judith Butler to
refer to asymmetrical power relations between men and women, with particular respect to
the objectifying way in which men gaze at women, how women gaze at themselves and at
other women, and the effects of these ways of seeing on the human psyche and on
behavior. Applied to our objectives, we are interested in using gaze theory to describe
the choices women make regarding representations of themselves on YouTube. As far as
we are aware, the application of gaze theory (from the gender theorists’ perspective) has
yet to be applied to the context we are interested in researching. We believe that the
particular forms of observer/observed and identity creation/representation/performance
that YouTube offers provides a valuable opportunity for the application of gaze theory
within a Web 2.0 context.
When we watch a twenty second clip of girl “X” in her bedroom, perhaps talking about
her day or giving a shy smile to the camera-eye, the familiarity of the image belies the
complexity of what is going on. X has uploaded twenty seconds of a visual
representation of herself onto a digital platform where potentially millions of
(anonymous) viewers can observe and comment. We know this girl from a pixilated
representation and others like it, accessible to us through a digital medium, through
which she and others construct online identities, which may or may not reflect their
personalities in the “real” world. In effect, what this increasingly common form of
knowing and known (how X knows herself and how we know X) tells us is that we must
look at the question of female identity on YouTube as inextricably linked to the medium
through which it is being broadcast. One of our principal objectives is therefore the
deconstruction of what we are seeing and the uncovering of particular power discourses
that shape what is being represented. In order to do so, we must attempt to decipher
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pixilated images of women like X. Applying gaze theory and semiologically
deconstructing images of X and others like her can help us to begin to explain
expressions of female sexuality on YouTube.
YouTube offers its millions of female producers the opportunity to gaze upon their own
identity creations. The application of gaze theory is especially relevant in the age of
digital media, where increasingly people are coming to know themselves through their
own media creations. Digital platforms like YouTube offer individuals the opportunity to
script, erase and re-record identity in advance, to showcase and modify one or multiple
identities as feedback from other (usually anonymous) individuals, and self-reflection
occurs over time. We are watching women play with identity, knowingly or otherwise.
Through an exploration of the representation of female sexuality on YouTube we can
explore the instability, the ambiguity, and the fragility of the cultural structures of female
identity representations.
Female expression on YouTube becomes a process of negotiation between the female
producer and the comments (feedback) she receives. It represents a logical progression
from the ubiquity of the tele-visual stage to one that (thanks to digital mediums like
YouTube) we can all now contribute. Behaviors and representations of self on YouTube
are perhaps the result of our constant (inescapable) engagement with what Baudrillard
has termed the hyperreal: our familiarity with a constant feedback loop where real events
mimic blockbuster films, or young girls and women mimic and play with the standards of
female representation prevalent within 21st century media culture. Except now they are
armed with the technological means and a digital platform to showcase such
representations and to test their success through a process of positive and negative
reinforcement. Now we are producers of our own identities within the digital platform,
but we are also the consumers of our own identity productions. As McLuhan states:
“We live in the world of instant re-play. Around the planet, all the events are not only
being recorded but re-played, and the amazing thing about the replay is that it offers the
means of recognition.”
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Acknowledging Judith Bulter’s assertion that expressions of gender, sex, and sexuality
are performative acts, we must therefore seek to understand (within the context of our
research) why women choose to act out certain gendered and sexualized types over
others. The fascination of seeing oneself and the creation of identity combined with the
technological means of re-play, erase, and showcase allows for an increasingly perfected
performance of gender and sexuality. Gaze theory and semiological deconstruction
provide the space in which to ask why women are choosing certain kinds of
representation over others.
Using the discipline of gender study, we will investigate YouTube's effect on creation of
female sexual identity. We will employ the method of participant observation,
specifically by creating an account on YouTube, through which we will participate in the
community (by means of a female alias) for one year. We will post videos and monitor
feedback, which we will then compile into a qualitative study of gender discourse and
sexual culture within the YouTube community.
(2) Sociology
Interpretative Sociology: Verstehen, First-Person Perspective, Paricipant Observation
The sociologist Max Weber used the term verstehen (interpretive understanding) to refer
to the social scientist's attempt to understand both the intention and the context of human
action. Weber and other early sociologists used the concept to devise a systematic
interpretive process, where an outsider observer of a culture – in this case the culture of
female sexuality on YouTube – relates to a cultural group on their own terms and from
their own point-of-view, rather than interpretation from outside points-of-view, theories
and/or concepts. Within sociology as well as anthropology, the concept refers to how
people give meaning to the social world around them and an understanding of what
beliefs, ideas and values motivate certain kinds of behavior (however irrational or false
those beliefs/ideas/values may appear to an outside observer). The community can
therefore be thought of as socially constructed - imagined by the individuals who make
up its parts. Interpretive sociology is interested in interpreting human action from a first–
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person perspective, in order to provide a sense of what it is like to be the person/group
under observation.
Its epistemological underpinnings, which lie at the social constructionist end of the
spectrum, are usually expressed methodologically through the qualitative approach of
participant observation, a method that is sometimes called subjective sociology because it
aims to understand the social world from the subject’s point-of-view. The method
involves getting to know the people who are being studied and participating – either
openly or secretly – in the culture being studied. In effect, the researcher’s objective is to
try to “see through the eyes” of the individuals who are being studied. The
methodological approach provides quality and depth of information, and tends to
encourage empathy from the part of the researcher. Its data usually consists of narrative
and/or content documentation and analysis. Its limitations include the scope and scale,
which is usually very small. For example, Catherine Lutz’s Homefront consists of a lot
of participant observation but, as we discussed in class and in our discussion sections
several weeks ago, Lutz’s conclusion from the Fayetteville case study – however
insightful and valuable – becomes problematic when we try to generalize the conclusions
about all cities from Lutz’s case study of Fayetteville.
Positivist Sociology: Social Facts, Social Structure, Statistical Analysis
Positivist sociology aligns with the natural sciences in that it limits itself to the
observation of existing relations between facts that are directly accessible to observation.
The approach is interested primarily in what is testable outside of the human mind, and
therefore resides at the realist end of the epistemological spectrum. Attributed to French
Sociologist Emile Durkheim, positivist sociology concerns itself with the study of social
facts, such as values, cultural norms, and belief systems, which are considered to be part
of the social structure of societies and external to the individual. By studying the
correlations between social facts, positivist sociology then aims to provide an outline of
the collective conscience of a given society: the shared beliefs and moral attitudes that
operate as a unifying force.
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In our case, we would apply this approach to the study of the social structure of the
YouTube platform with particular emphasis on the values, cultural norms, and belief
systems of the female population. We would look for external indicators of female
representation, using quantitative methodological approaches such as statistical analysis
of various demographic and behavioral data, and distribution of surveys within the
YouTube platform. We would use the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
to analyze and correlate both our qualitative and quantitative our data.
Specifically, our study will be carried out through narrative analysis of women's
YouTube videos, using SPSS to record details about each clip we watch. Through the
surveys that we will distribute through YouTube, we will gather information about users'
gender, age, profession, and how many hours they spend on YouTube, as well as
questions regarding the type of content they post and their interactions with other users.
In our initial interviews, we experienced difficulty with reliance on users' self-reporting,
as they appeared reluctant to divulge their reasons for posting on YouTube. As a result,
that data that we gathered yielded inconclusive results regarding the motivations for
participating in the YouTube community. Therefore, we will aim to develop these
surveys using a standard form, which will include yes/no options, as well as
codependency rating scales, in order to dissuade participants from ambiguous answers.
The platform of YouTube - user-generated content and user-generated commentary - has
brought about new forms of empowerment, community, and global connections
transcending time and space. The form of YouTube allows users to reach every corner of
the world in ways we’ve never experienced before. Thus, women have the opportunity to
go beyond their former world, often restricted by norms and beliefs.
In our proposed study, we want to use gender theory and both interpretative and positivist
sociology. This interdisciplinary approach functions in two ways. On the one hand, they
both answer questions within their own theories. Gender theory (in specifically gaze
theory) allows us to examine expressions of female sexuality on YouTube in terms of
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multiple-identity creation and ask why women choose to represent themselves in
particular kinds of ways. Interpretative sociology allows us to better understand the
culture of female sexual identity on YouTube. On the other hand, positivist sociology
provides us with perspective on the potential correlations between demographic data such
as age, economic and educational status and geographical location with representations of
female identity on YouTube.
Both theories offer methods to investigate our problem. The gender theory approach
allows us to employ the method of participant observation. Through sociology, we can
use narrative analysis of women's YouTube videos, using SPSS to record details about
each clip we watch.
We should be aware that there are also some drawbacks of the interdisciplinary approach.
While it allows us to investigate problem using different theories and methodologies, it
also be lacking in academic depth within one single theory. However, as long as we
understand that the term “interdisciplinary” is “forging connections across the different
disciplines” and “establishing a kind of undisciplined space in the interstices between
disciplines,” then the interdisciplinary approach exploited in our case has taken full
advantage of this term. In short, it bridges gender theories and sociology and fills in the
theory gaps like neither theory could alone.
As we have discussed, we are primarily investigating the creation and representation of
female sexuality on YouTube. Our focus lies heavily with human relations and identity
within a Web 2.0 platform. When media change, human relationships change. YouTube
as a platform for mediating human relationships is inarguably worth more in-depth study.
The CCT lens provides us with useful ways to understand the change of technology and
its corresponding change of norms and networks. Moreover, through the interdisciplinary
approach, we can employ different theories and their methodologies to answer questions,
carry out further research, and fill in the theory gaps.
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References
Anderson, B (1982), Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism, Verso.
Baudrillard, J. (1981), Simluacra and Simulation, United States, University of Michigan
Press.
Bulter, J. (1990), Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge
Classics.
Cuff, E.C. (2006), Perspectives in Sociology, New York, NY, Routledge.
Foucault, M. (1982), The Archaeology of Knowledge, United Kingdom, Pantheon.
Lacan, J. (1991), Miller, J.A., (ed), The Seminar of Jacques Lacan: Book II: The Ego is
Freud’s Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, W.W. Norton & Co.
Lutz, K. (2001), Homefront, Boston, Mass., Beacon Press Books.
McLuhan, M. (1994), Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (2nd Ed.), The MIT
Press.
Mirzoeff, N. (1998), The Visual Culture Reader (2nd Ed.), New York, NY, Routledge
Molyneaux, H., O’Donnell, S., Gibson, K., Singer, J. (June 2008), Exploring the Gender
Divide on YouTube: An Analysis of the Creation and Reception of Vlogs
(http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/iit-publications-iti/docs/NRC-50360.pdf).
Moran, J. (2006), Interdisciplinarity, New York, NY, Routledge.
Weber, Max (1976), Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology,
University of California Press.
Wesch, M. (2008) “An Anthropological introduction to Youtube”. Presented to the
Library of Congress on June 23rd and then posted in a number of popular online
sites: http://wickedanomie.blogspot.com/2008/10/anthropological-introduction-toyoutube.html.
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