Sexual objectification in #MeToo and #WhyIDidntReport tweets: Links to sentiment and emotions

ABSTRACT

Sexual objectification affects women negatively in a many ways (e.g., increased focus on appearance and safety), especially if they are not provided the opportunity to cope effectively. Social media platforms provide an opportunity to share experiences and receive social support. We conducted sentiment and content analyses of #MeToo and #WhyIDidntReport (WIDR) tweets with a focus on descriptions of sexual objectification. Most #MeToo tweets were personal disclosures; others’ reactions were primarily supportive, indicating validation and support. Our analysis of #WIDR tweets indicated a subset of tweets referencing objectification was significantly more negative in sentiment than other tweets. Disclosures of assault through social media can provide opportunities to receive emotional support and promote a societal-level discussion of the impact of sexual objectification.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual harassment
• sexual assault
• #MeToo
• objectification
• #WhyIDidntReport

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Notes

1. See Supplement Table 1 for additional data; See Schneider and Carpenter (2020) for theoretical background.

2. Upon noting a small sample of #WIDR tweets using the specific keyword “objectification” (n = 126), we recognized that participants might use synonyms and included related thesaurus keywords.