The Women of #Vascularsurgery: An Empirical Discourse Analysis of Social Media

In the past, vascular surgery has been a leader in understanding how social media impacts the speciality but has struggled with diversity and equity online. This analysis, centered in the larger context of social networking, seeks to look beyond professional regulations and surgeon-centered discourse to see the reality of vascular surgery online for women who have been traditionally underrepresented or inaccurately represented in this field.

The purpose of this study was to explore content and identify relevant discourses of the social media category #vascularsurgery produced by female-identifying social media users.

Methods: This empirical discourse analysis was conducted across three different social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) from July 2018 to July 2023. Content was located through utilization of the #vascularsurgery hashtag. Results were examined for authorship, accompanying hashtags, images, engagement, and geographic location. Trends within and between platforms were identified. Written social media content was also analyzed using independent coding and thematic analysis.

Results:

Altogether, 156,786 media posts under #vascularsurgery were reviewed, with the most posts located on Instagram (N= 82,890). Using hand searches and Vista Social software, 16,539 posts across 5,113 female-identifying platform users were included in the analysis. 

Discourses identified in this study included narratives on surgical skills, diversity in the operating room, and trainee education. Subject position was primarily that of North American trainees or early career surgeons sharing their experience and knowledge with other platform users. Gender bias and discrimination also permeated into social media content through user posts (ex: sharing experiences, photos, and tools to manage sexism) and public comments (ex: derogatory terms and attitudes towards women).  Posts from  the #medbikini movement further amplified these themes.

Finally, a small subset of female vascular surgery patients and their families have found an outlet to share their surgical experiences under #vascularsurgery. Further analysis revealed the function of these posts was to receive support, communicate with social networks, and share testimonials for cosmetic vascular procedures.

Conclusions: This analysis examined multiple platforms and different forms of social media to comprehend how the women of vascular surgery are represented and what discourses they are producing online. Examining these narratives is pivotal to understanding how the other healthcare professionals, future trainees and even the public at large view women within the specialty of vascular surgery.

In the future, a comparison of all gendered representations, binary and nonbinary, within this hashtag may be helpful in understanding what are and who is producing the most dominant discourses on social media.