Some Notes about Women on YouTube
1. There are many, many wonderful women on YouTube who have broad and growing audiences. Here is a long but still incomplete list. (I’d add Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, Natalie Tran, and Mamrie Hart, but there are lots.)
2. When women start to build an audience on YouTube, they are far, far more likely than men to be subjected to threats, harassment intimidation, and abuse. This has driven many women content creators whose work I love—especially LGBT women and/or women of color—away from YouTube. As a successful female YouTube partner said to me today, “Every time someone tweets a video of mine, I’m simultaneously grateful and really anxious, because I’m afraid of threats.” That’s a barrier to growing your audience, and it’s one created entirely by patriarchy.
3. Claims that the Top 500 Most Viewed YouTubers are >90% male simply because guys work harder at YouTube or make better videos are just blatantly ridiculous. Like, that’s just not a well reasoned conclusion.
Just a sample of the things I have received, and as much as I hate to admit, it has affected me.
This doesn’t count the death or rape threats or demands for my suicide I have received either. I systematically blocked those people and deleted those comments because my family and friends watch my videos and I didn’t want them to see that.
I have filmed probably 4 videos within the last year that I ended up not putting online because I would get anxiety editing, and think, this shot is awful, this isn’t even funny, why did I twist my head that way I look ugly, they are going to fat shame me. *delete*
On the other hand some faith in humanity has been restored since there have been a lot of strangers who have given me constructive criticism, fought back on some of the vicious comments (not just for me but for the sake of human decency), and have email me messages of encouragement.
I was just starting to get a lot of viewers, I even got spotlighted. I was trying to branch out on different video ideas and get back to my roots of film making, but a mix of this and real life and equipment falling apart have deterred me.
But I have plans.
