Uncovering gender stereotypes in controversial science
discourse: evidence from computational text and visual
analyses across digital platforms

Uncovering gender stereotypes in controversial science
discourse: evidence from computational text and visual
analyses across digital platforms

gender stereotypes, public engagement, science communication, multi-modal communication, video-as-data.

This study examines how gender stereotypes are reflected in discourses around controversial science issues across two platforms, YouTube
and TikTok. Utilizing the Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects, we developed hypotheses and research questions about how content

creators might use gender-related stereotypes to engage audiences. Our analyses of climate change and vaccination videos, considering vari-
ous modalities such as captions and thumbnails, revealed that themes related to children and health often appeared in videos mentioning

women, while science misinformation was more common in videos mentioning men. We observed cross-platform differences in portraying

gender stereotypes. YouTube’s video descriptions often highlighted women-associated moral language, whereas TikTok emphasized men-
associated moral language. YouTube’s thumbnails frequently featured climate activists or women with nature, while TikTok’s thumbnails

showed women in Vlog-style selfies and with feminine gestures. These findings advance understanding about gender and science through a
cross-platform, multi-modal approach and offer potential intervention strategies.

Kaiping Chen 1,�,†, Zening Duan 2,†

, Sang Jung Kim

https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad052

Oxford University Press on behalf of International Communication Association.

1 December 2023

PERI IRAWAN

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