Feminism, gender identity and polarization in TikTok and Twitter

 Simón Peña-Fernández, Leioa (Spain)

 Ainara Larrondo-Ureta, Universidad del País Vasco (Spain)

 Jordi Morales-i-Gras, Universidad del País Vasco (Spain)

https://doi.org/10.3916/C75-2023-04

Keywords

Young people, gender studies, identity, feminism, social media, digital activism

Abstract

The potential of social media to create open, collaborative and participatory spaces allows young women to engage and empower themselves in political and social activism. In this context, the objective of this research is to analyze the polarization in the debate at the intersection between the defense of feminism and transsexuality, preferably among the young public, symbolized in the use of the term “TERF”. To do this, the existing communities on Twitter and TikTok on this subject have been analyzed with Social Network Analysis techniques, and the presence of young people in them. The results indicate that the debates between both networks are not very cohesive, with a highly modularized structure that suggests isolation of each community in itself. For this reason, it can be considered that the debate on sexual identity has resulted in a strong polarization of feminist activism in social media. Likewise, the positions of transinclusive feminism are very majority among young people, which reinforces the idea of an ideological debate that can also be understood in a generational perspective. Finally, a differential use between both social networks has been identified, where TikTok is a less partisan and more dialogical network than Twitter, which leads to discussions and participation in a more neutral tone.

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Fundref

This article draws on the results of the research project “Noticias, redes y usuarios en el sistema híbrido de medios” (RTI2018-095775-B-C41), financed by the National R&D+i Plan of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (2018-2022). The authors belong to the Consolidated Research Group of the “Gureiker” Basque University System (IT- 1496-22) (2022-2025).

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Technical information

Received: 30-09-2022

Revised: 23-10-2022

Accepted: 29-11-2022

OnlineFirst: 30-01-2023

Publication date: 01-04-2023

Article revision time: 23 days | Average time revision issue 75: 32 days

Article acceptance time: 60 days | Average time of acceptance issue 75: 93 days

Preprint editing time: 138 days | Average editing time preprint issue 75: 171 days

Article editing time: 183 days | Average editing time issue 75: 216 days

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