The impact of 2016/2017 feminist french YouTube videos about street harassment on men's opinion

Abstract

Tutor: Mercè Oliva

Treball de fi de Màster Estudis Internacionals sobre Mitjans, Poder i Diversitat

Street harassment is a phenomenon which impacts women everywhere in the world. As women's speech got released after several media cases of sexual abuse on celebrites, social networks like YouTube relayed the information and became the new place to denounce all types of gender abuses. This study aims to explore the impact of YouTube French feminist videos on Frenc men's opinion through a qualitative research using both individual interviews and focus groups to compare participants' answers before and after having watched the videos. Results found out videos succeeded in deconstructing stereotypes and raising awareness about topics such as male domination in public places, the fear of women and solutions for bystanders when street harassment occurs. However, the lack of men's representation in the speech and radical ideas and tone of the speakers prevented men from getting the feeling of legitimacy to discuss the issue and dissuaded them to do further researches on the topic.