The World of YouTube: "What Girls and Guys Do"

            Jenna Marbles, real name Jenna Mourey, is currently one of the most popular YouTube stars. She has over fifteen million subscribers, making her the seventh most subscribed to channel on YouTube as well as the most subscribed to woman.  As such, she serves as an interesting case study that could contribute to Roxanne’s work on the sexualization effects of the YouTube community. Her first video, “How to trick people into thinking you’re good looking” has been viewed over sixty-three million times- more than double that of any of her other videos.

While at first this video seems to be a makeup tutorial, in reality it’s somewhat of a commentary on the lengths many women go to when altering their appearance to be viewed as more attractive. The video is littered with quotes such as, “if you’re thinking about going for a more natural look, lets be serious you’re way too ugly to pull that off” and the powerful “The next step is, go out and get yourself a job that is super degrading. I picked dancing in my underwear, before I go to work I like to pump myself up by crying over my masters degree.” In this vein it seems possible that certain “YouTubers” may not enforce traditional gender roles and sexualize females but rather criticize a broader culture that already does so. However, this interpretation is of course subjective. If viewers do not pick up on Jenna’s sarcasm they may understand this video as reinforcing beauty ideals that tell women to just, “cake a bunch of makeup on your face.” This interpretation may be further enforced by her video series “What Girls and Guys Do.”

This video entitled “What Girls Think About During Sex” along with many others from the series enforces the heterosexual script that women are primarily valued for their physical experience- as evidenced by quotes such as “oh my god is that what my thighs look like, I need to go to the gym” (Kim, 2007). While these videos are made to make viewers laugh and perhaps again critique dominant gender norms, this message may not always be apparent. As these videos continue to rack up millions of viewers, dominant ideologies may be challenged or enforced. However, these effects have largely gone unexplored. While there is a wealth of research on the effects of these scripts in mediums such as television, more work must be done in online worlds such as YouTube.

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. a, Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145–157. http://doi.org/10.1080/00224490701263660 

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