Dancing Through Life: YouTube and Sexual Assault

Hello Internet!

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion on YouTube and about YouTube regarding certain behavior that has been coming to light. I say recent when it really all started back in 2012.

The year 2012 seems like ages ago. When in retro-spec, 2012 was only a little over a year and a half ago.

There have been allegations and rumors popping up all over the YouTube community, since 2012, accusing certain "YouTubers" of sexual assault, harassment, manipulation, and even rape. Some of these allegations have been coming from fans, some of them have been coming from other content creators.

If you don't know what has happened you can look at the master post here, it should fill in all of the blanks for you.

The reason why I'm talking about this is because I care about the YouTube community. I am both a viewer and a creator. I don't have a large following, so I know more about what it's like on this side of the screen. The viewers side.

From this side of the screen, I'm upset and scared but I'm also proud.

How could I possibly feel those three emotions at once? That makes me a walking contradiction, doesn't it? Let me explain.

I'm upset. I'm upset that creators could take advantage of their position of power. I'm upset that videos like sam pepper's "Fake Hand Grab Ass Prank" normalizes this toxic behavior. I'm upset that fellow viewers are defending these people-saying this like they'll defend the abuser until the end and that they will love them no matter what because everyone makes mistakes. I'm upset that alex day thinks he can make videos again and try to manipulate us all into feeling sorry for him. I'm upset that my 12 year old niece watches YouTube videos that will make her think it's okay to say racial slurs, homophobic comments, be touched with out her permission, think that abuse is funny, and be self conscious because she doesn't fit nash grier's standards of beauty.

And I'm scared. I'm scared that situations like this will keep happening. I'm scared that if I ever become a creator with a big enough following to meet some of my favorite creators, that I may be put into a situation that I don't want to be in. I'm scared that YouTube creators that associate with these abusers will be taken down with them. I'm scared that YouTube creators wont ever be taken seriously because of situations like this, if and when those creators branch out into other mediums of the entertainment industry.

But I'm also proud. I'm proud of the YouTube community for how they are handling this. I'm proud that creators aren't afraid to stand up for what's right. I'm proud that every day there is another tweet, another video, another Tumblr post regarding what's been going on. I'm proud that people such as Laci Green have reached out to victims and have become advocates for them. I'm proud that YouTube has dropped sam pepper from the partner program. I'm proud that our community has made it a safe place for the victims. I'm proud that our community has made it known that these people are not welcome. I'm proud that our community will not stand for this behavior.

We have a lot of work to do, on and off YouTube. We have a long way to go, but I'm glad we are finally doing something.

Let us continue to talk about abuse. Let us continue to call out bull shit. Let us continue in the right direction- for the victims sake, for the viewers sake, for the creators sake, for YouTubes sake.

_________________________

Here are some quick links to some videos on the subject:

Mine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASFs7ZTQW2s&list=UU0pHAG4I4oEOWs45c1o0ALg

TheThirdPew - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2P_h6_hKdc

Jack Howard - http://youtu.be/-8OKJaCyF1g?list=UUc-2O0_cKAWGQEuHqHHh3GA