Social Media Content – Coding Analysis of Sexual Assault Allegations

The purpose of this study is to examine news stories on two popular social media platforms - Facebook and Twitter and see what attributions are made regarding alleged female sexual assault victims via the online comments section. This study will look at three prominent male alleged offenders in Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Brett Kavanaugh and compare comments on both Facebook and Twitter on three different news stories by The Washington Post involving their alleged victims. Using a completely qualitative coding analysis and descriptive statistics, this study will examine whether labeling theory and stigma play a role in these attributions and also explore further conditions that might influence a person’s ideas of the alleged victim and if power, prestige and authority play a role in how the public views alleged sexual allegations.