Sexualized culture on livestreaming platforms: a content analysis of Twitch.tv

Abstract

The Twitch.tv livestreaming platform, with 3 million daily viewers internationally, has become a space for online digital culture and entertainment. Given the current concern regarding the exposure of sexualized content on social networks and its consequences for adolescence, the objective of this study is to analyze, from a gender perspective, whether women become more sexualized than men during their livestreams. Using a content-analysis design, an ad-hoc scale was developed to analyze the frequency and intensity of sexualization based on context variables and streamers’ behavior such as clothing, posture, or evocation of a sexual act, among others. After analysis of the livestreams (n = 1920), our scale made it possible to distinguish three levels of intensity: non-sexualized, sexualized, or hypersexualized. Statistically significant evidences was found in the level of sexualization between men and women in different categories of livestreaming. The results show that women are self-sexualized more and in greater intensity than men; there are also differences in the behavior and context of their livestreams. The sexualized representation of women in the media shapes gender attitudes, dehumanizes women, and legitimizes violence against them, and so it is essential to understand the role of media platforms in self-sexualization and the consequences to show women as sexual objects, principally for young people.