Social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram have recently been used as venues for discussing abusive relationships and sexual violence. This study examines the ways in which social media users and how Twitter and Instagram users engaged with these posts by analyzing 500 Twitter and 500 Instagram posts focused on #NotOkay using a quantitative content analysis. There were marked differences between the posts on the two platforms as well as between engagement with these posts: Instagram overall elicited a higher median level of engagement than Twitter as well as more frequent expressions of social support; in addition, #NotOkay posts on Instagram were more likely to focus on specific acts of sexual assault. On Twitter, posts that included expressions of instrumental social support produced higher engagement. However, mentioning sexual assault produced higher engagement on both platforms. Providers and other interacting with sexual assault survivors should be aware of how these types of violence may be framed and expressed by different populations on different social media platforms.

Background

In September 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accused then-nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. When then-U.S. President Donald Trump questioned her credibility on Twitter, sexual assault survivors began tweeting their reasons for not reporting using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. This study examined how these posts were discussed on Twitter and to what extent the tweets fit within levels of the Social Ecological Model (SEM).

Method

This study used quantitative content analysis to code 1,000 tweets with #WhyIDidntReport for violence type, reasons for not reporting, and SEM levels.

Results

Overall, 68.7% of posts mentioned a specific reason for not reporting; of these, 24.1% referred to the perpetrator being in a position of power, 36.3% feared not being believed, and 20.6% mentioned that others invalidated the assault. In addition, 47.6% mentioned a specific form of violence. Within the SEM, 47.6% referred to individual, 52.6% to relational, 43.2% to community, and 21.7% to societal reasons for not reporting.

Conclusion

Reading social media content allows healthcare providers to directly discover how survivors talk about their experiences, priorities in the care environment, and how to support a patient-centered and trauma-informed approach.

Implications

Understanding reasons people do not report sexual assault is critical for healthcare professionals to engage patients in open, honest screening and intervention efforts.