As YouTube, the popular video streaming site, grew to be a primary source of entertainment and connection for today’s youth, its content creators gained an impressionable new audience. Recently, many young women have come forward to reveal the sexual abuses that they had experienced at the hands of popular male YouTubers. Thus far, twenty men have been accused of sexually abusing their young female fans. This abuse has devastating consequences for the victims and the YouTube community.
The Terms to Know
YouTuber/Content creator refers to a person who creates and posts video content on the YouTube site.
Internet celebrity refers to an ordinary person with a web platform (video or blog) who has benefitted from cultural fads and marketing to reach an immense audience (Gamson 1063).
Sexual abuse refers to any unwanted/nonconsensual performance of a sexual act on a person or forcing a person into a sexual act that they do not want to perform (loveisrespect.org). Examples of abuse are:
• Rape
• Undesired touching
• Undesired kissing
• Undesired violent sex
• Refusal of access to birth control
• Threats of sexual activity
• Sexual insults
• Pressure to perform undesired sexual activity
Since many of the young women are underage, it is important to understand exactly what constitutes sexual abuse towards children. The above list applies, as well as the following:
• Exposure of adult genitals to a child
• Exposure of pornography to a child
• Photographs of a child in a sexual manner
• Encouragement of a child to watch sexual activity
• Encouragement of a child to perform sexual activity
(stopitnow.org)
The Abuse
Through their video platform, YouTubers build a persona. Since online video is their job (in most cases), they want many views to satisfy advertisers. Thus, they present friendly and relatable personalities. When impressionable teenage girls watch the videos, they are drawn to these personalities. The more they watch, the more they think they know the person who is on their screens. Thus, they trust someone who may abuse them. These abusers perform some or all of the following abuses:
• Send sexual messages online
• Ask for personal contact information
• Ask for nude photos and/or sexual videos
• Send nude photos and/or sexual videos
• Set up in-person meetings
• Initiate physical sexual activity
• Force physical sexual activity
• Convince the girls that they are lucky for the attention
• Encourage the girls to stay quiet
• Deny/discredit abuse accusations
• Send their fans to attack the girls through online threats
(Unpleasantmyles)
Remember, the accused have all been adult men (at least in their twenties). The victims have mostly been teenage girls (15 or under at the times of abuse). Thus, even if the girls had given consent (some did), all sexual acts were illegal according to age-consent laws in the US (“Statutory”).
Also, the girls who sent nude photos/sexual videos of themselves created child pornography, and thus the men viewed child pornography. This is sexual abuse towards children. This is illegal.
The Consequences for those Affected
Women/teenage girls: The YouTube abusers force them into sexual situations that may be violent, such as rape. This could lead to difficult psychological consequences. A cross-cultural study on the effects of sexual violence found that women who experienced sexual violence were 2.3 times more likely to abuse alcohol and 2.6 times more likely to have anxiety or depression (Garcia-Moreno 32). Along with these consequences are the possible legal troubles that teenage girls may face if nude photos or videos of their bodies were exchanged. Additionally, the women sometimes receive harassment from their abusers’ fans through the internet. In all, they may fear any future internet interactions and deny themselves their right to use social media.
Men/teenage boys: Men, especially teenage boys, who watch the male YouTube abusers may believe that sexually abusive behavior is appropriate towards women, and they may imitate this behavior in their social and romantic lives. This could lead them to damage their relationships and to break laws of consent and/or child pornography, depending on which actions they imitate.
YouTube community: The community environment gets perceived as dangerous, as a place where predators can find easy targets. This then forces viewers to lose trust in the content creators, which then removes YouTube’s unique interaction between creator and consumer. Additionally, a discord develops in the community when some people (creators and viewers) defend the abusers and (in some cases) harass the victims on the internet.
The Roots of the Abuse
It is logical to assume that the reason for sexual abuse in the YouTube community is that people of poor moral character access the site. However, the problem is far more complex. These cases are not about the average online predator, who utilizes identity deception to lure his victims. These YouTubers publicize their names, faces, and ages. Also, as mentioned, YouTube is often their jobs. Despite the clear risk to their reputations, they sexually abused their fans. Thus, there are root issues that enabled these YouTubers to abuse their platform without concern for their very public reputations. The issues include: internet celebrity culture, recognition of women on YouTube, and easy access.
Internet Celebrity Culture
YouTube started as a small community in which anyone who watched videos also created them. Now, there are strictly creators and strictly viewers. This divide made a way for some creators to become internet celebrities. The dedicated viewers shared and discussed videos with person after person, effectually making the videos’ creators famous (Gamson 1065). Then, the creators took on the celebrity role and the viewers took on the fan role. As the YouTubers’ audiences grew, with new users joining the site, their celebrity statuses grew (Baker-Whitelaw).
Internet celebrities gain:
• Large audiences in numbers that reach millions
• Community devotion that supports financially and socially
• Influential power over audiences
• Corporate support in advertising, book deals, and cross-media opportunities
The YouTube community was not prepared for the celebrity status of its content creators, and thus had no way to regulate celebrity-fan interactions. This is evident in the setup of YouTube conventions, such as Vidcon, in which celebrities and fans share the same physical space as equals, even though the fans idolize the YouTubers (Baker-Whitelaw).
Recognition of Women on YouTube
Although there are many internet celebrities on YouTube, very few of them are women. Thus, female YouTubers do not have equal status to their male counterparts. Their audiences are generally smaller and less expressive. The few women who do attain celebrity, though, do not attain the same level of influence as the men. Thus, impressionable young girls often ignore positive female role models on the video site. This puts them strictly under the influence of men who may aim to manipulate their inexperience.
Easy Access
Perhaps the most obvious problem that enabled sexual abuse in the community is the easy access that the abusers have to their targets. The private messaging features on sites like Twitter and Facebook often provide the earliest access to female fans. Given the admiration that a young girl may have for a YouTuber, it is very easy to see how she may be happy to receive attention from him on social media. Interactions on these sites seem to build trust and relationships. The next level of access is conventions and gatherings where content creators and viewers meet to socialize about YouTube. As mentioned, conventions like Vidcon provide a neutral place that does not consider the power imbalance between celebrity and fan. Thus, these places are the best way to get physical contact.
The Benefits of Addressing the Problem
If the problem of sexual abuse in the YouTube community is addressed, then there will be the following benefits:
• A stronger community
• A safe online environment
• A demonstration of respect for women
• A demonstration of acceptable behavior
• A creation of a safe divide between YouTuber and fan
• An achievement of appropriate legal punishment for abusers
• An encouragement of progressive handling of future situations
The Solution
In response to the recent revelation of abuse in the YouTube community, a taskforce called YouCoalition formed. They work with online organizations like the Harry Potter Alliance and conventions like Vidcon to discuss and prevent sexual abuse. Additionally, Vidcon has altered its environment to address YouTube’s new celebrity culture by providing security escorts for its most prominent creators at its 2014 convention (YouCoalition).
To further solve this problem, YouTubers should acknowledge their celebrity status if they have achieved it. As celebrities, they should maintain a distance from fans by not following them on social media sites and by not responding to idolizing comments, such as “I love you.” Responding to such comments encourages “worshipping” and further establishes a power imbalance. YouTubers need to make more appropriate interactions with their audiences.
Lastly, parents should educate their children on internet safety and the reality of sexual abuse.
Works Cited
Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia. “The Tom Milsom Abuse Scandal and YouTube’s Troubling Cult of Worship.” The Daily Dot. 14 March 2014. Web. 21 October 2014.
Gamson, Joshua. “The Unwatched Life is Not Worth Living: The Elevation of the Ordinary in Celebrity Culture.” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 126.4 (2011): 1061-1069. Web. 21 October 2014.
Garcia-Moreno, Claudia and Christina Pallitto. “Global and Regional Estimates of Violence against Women: Prevalence and Health Effects of Intimate Partner Violence and Non-partner Sexual Violence.” World Health Organization. 2013. Web. 31 October 2014.
Loveisrespect. “What is Sexual Abuse?” loveisrespect.org. Web. 21 October 2014.
“Statutory Rape: A Guide to State Laws and Reporting Requirements.” Aspe.hhs.gov. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web. 21 October 2014.
Unpleasantmyles [Johanna, Joe, and Jess]. “Masterpost.” Tumblr. n.p., n.d. Web. 30 October 2014.
YouCoalition. “About the Blog.” Tumblr. n.p., n.d. Web. 30 October 2014.
About the author: Jamie Linde studies English literature at Marywood University. She also minors in Writing and Women’s Studies. She reads diversely, but focuses her writing on essays and short stories. Her interests include animals, science, cleaning, and cuddling with her cat. She is a nerdfighter (dftba!) and a feminist. She believes that she always has supported feminism, but that she now has a stronger appreciation of it.
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