Examining Communicative Forms in #TikTokDocs’ Sexual Health Videos

Authors

  • Krysten Stein University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Yueyang Yao University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Tanja Aitamurto University of Illinois at Chicago

Keywords:

digital health communication, digital health promotion, communicative forms, memetic dimensions, sexual health, women’s health, TikTok

Abstract

We build on the theoretical framework of communicative forms and memetic dimensions to examine how obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) doctors’ TikTok videos function as digital artifacts to educate and engage with youth culture. The framework of communicative forms defines TikTok as a communicative environment with unique practices, technological affordances, aesthetics, and digital culture. The three memetic dimensions of content, form, and stance refer to the ideas, configurations, and positions conveyed by memes that are shown on TikTok. We identified interrelated memetic ways OBGYN TikTok Docs deliver sexual health information using five communicative forms (explanatory, documentary, comedic, communal, and interactive). Our findings show that the relatability of OBGYN TikTok Docs was a key element in each communicative form and was crafted by a combination of the three memetic dimensions. In using various communicative forms, the boundaries of health education and entertainment are blurred. Through this blurring, the videos portray a dual-sided presentation of OBGYN TikTok docs, showing them as authentic health professionals and relatable people.

Author Biographies

Krysten Stein, University of Illinois at Chicago

Krysten Stein (she/her/hers) is a first-generation, interdisciplinary Ph.D. student studying Communication and Media with concentrations in Gender and Women’s Studies and Black Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Broadly, her research investigates how television, digital media, and popular culture are intertwined with systems of power and marginalized identities. Rooted in critical/cultural studies, utilizing an intersectional feminist lens, her writing and research focuses on media industries, political economy, cultural production, and representation.Title = PhD student; Depatment = Communication, Gender & Women's Studies, and Black Studies; Phone = 513-673-9005

Yueyang Yao, University of Illinois at Chicago

Yueyang Yao is a PhD student in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has developed interest in Non-profit Organizations since she worked in a research center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at Sun Yat-sen University, where she graduated with a BA degree. She pursued and received her MA in Media and Development, an interdisciplinary major, from the University of Westminster in 2016. Her MA thesis explores the presentation, narratives, structures and mobilization patterns of fair trade movement in the social media context. Her current research interest includes, but is not limited to, social campaign, lifestyle politics, and popular culture. She has worked as a PR officer, project manager, and lecturer in China's NGO sector before she decided to investigate the reality in a more critical and systematic way through the lens of communication.Title = PhD student; Depatment = Communication; Phone = 312-315-8569

Tanja Aitamurto, University of Illinois at Chicago

Tanja Aitamurto, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Tanja examines, designs, and deploys new media technologies for informing, empowering, and connecting people. She studies the impact of new media technologies on people's behavior and society, often in the contexts of digital journalism and democratic processes.Her focus of inquiry is on the two following questions:1. How do new media technologies impact human behavior and society?2. How can we harness these technologies for social good, to foster a more diverse and inclusive society through journalism, media and digital democracy?Tanja operationalizes these questions in empirical contexts including large-scale online collaboration systems, such as applications of collective intelligence in open and participatory journalism, public deliberation and policy-making, and civic crowdfunding. She also examines virtual, mixed, and augmented reality as civic technologies. Tanja’s work is driven by both academic goals and a mission to contribute to a more equal, informed, and inclusive society.Title = Assistant Professor; Depatment = Communication; Phone = 415-335-1039

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Published

2022-02-13

Issue

Vol. 16 (2022)

Section

Articles

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