Women Scientists Receive More Negative Comments on YouTube Than Men

A new study by researchers in Australia found that women who post science-related videos on YouTube.com are significantly more likely to receive negative comments about their work than men who place science-related videos on YouTube.

Researchers found that science videos post by women received more total comments and more negative comments. The study included more than 23,000 comments posted on science-related videos.

The data showed that 14 percent of the comments posted on videos made by women were critical, compared to just six percent for men. Nearly 5 percent of comments were related to the woman’s appearance. Only 1.4 percent of the comments on men’s videos were related to appearance.

The full study, “Exploring the YouTube Science Communication Gender Gap: A Sentiment Analysis,” was published on the website of the journal Public Understanding of Science. It may be accessed here.