YouTube: An ethnographic case study of ‘toxic masculinity’

Comments on male-female con-specific beautification videos reveal a masculinity problem

ABSTRACT

For the purposes of segregating between male and female audiences, it is assumed that female beautification videos are exclusively watched (and commented on) by females, and male beautification videos are exclusively watched (and commented on) by males. This is of course not without exception, but proves a very good, near-perfect, self-segregation mechanism. Videos were chosen to be comparable in views and detailing sex-dependent beautification processes (how to trim a beard vs. how to do your eye lashes). Video comments were tallied in a spreadsheet and indexed by:

1. Number of likes.

2. Apperceived positive, negative, or neutral opinion on video. And,

3. Derogatory remarks on sexuality or questioning of heterosexuality.

The data were weighted (by the number of likes) to represent a total measure of positive/negative reception and in terms of total derogatory remarks on sexuality. The resulting proportions were normalized to fit between -1 and 1, representing 100% negative and 100% positive responses, respectively. Zero represents a neutral average.

All of these statistics are as of January 1st, 2019.

RESULTS

Case Study #1: How To Get Long + Voluminous Lashes | Step by Step

948,542 views, 2,002 Comments, view:comment = 0.21%, 35k 👍 414 👎

The like-to-dislike ratio was 84.5, meaning one person disliked this video per 84 that liked it.

The proportion of positive comments on the female “How To Get Long + Voluminous Lashes | Step by Step” video was 0.81, meaning it was 81% positive. Interestingly, the entire remaining 19% were neutral, and no negative comments.

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