Portrayal of womanhood and femininity on social media. A qualitative case study of selected content on TikTok

• Název práce v češtině: Zobrazení ženskosti a femininity na sociálních médiích. Kvalitativní případová studie vybraného obsahu na TikToku
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Portrayal of womanhood and femininity on social media. A qualitative case study of selected content on TikTok
• Klíčová slova: sociální média, ženství,ženskost, feminismus, nová média, TikTok, gender
• Klíčová slova anglicky: social media/womanhood/feminism/new media/TikTok/gender
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2023/2024
• Typ práce: diplomová práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra sociologie (23-KS)
• Vedoucí / školitel: PhDr. Lenka Vochocová, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 28.02.2024
• Datum zadání: 28.02.2024
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 07.02.2025 10:30
• Místo konání obhajoby: Areál Jinonice, B228, 228, seminární místnost ISS
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 07.01.2025
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 07.02.2025
• Oponenti: Mgr. Marie Heřmanová, Ph.D.

Zásady pro vypracování

Research Questions

 What hashtags are used on TikTok to showcase femininity and womanhood?
 What portrayals of femininity and womanhood can be found on TikTok under the
hashtags women, femininity, and womanhood?
 What are the common talking points and issues in the videos that are portraying
femininity and womanhood on TikTok?
 Are the portrayals of womanhood and femininity on TikTok specific to this application
as compared to other applications? [Based on existing literature.]

Research Method

-Observation of affordances of the application

This part of research will allow to compile TikTok’s specific affordances. By that
helping evaluate how the platform operates and flagging the most important characteristic of
the application for purposes of the study. Combining already existing knowledge found in the
literature as well as own observations will be also necessary for justification of specific
methods assumed in the study. It will provide a base for better understanding and observation
of the content found on the application.

-Qualitative content analysis of selected content on the application [videos]

Study will use a qualitative, in-depth, explorative approach. The exploration will be
carried out through textual and visual content analysis of selected videos. Study will have a
goal of decoding the context of the content on many levels such as seen in the approach of
Eriksson (2021) where there are specific levels too full understanding of the text on this

specific application. That is taking into consideration the technicalities such as whether video
is a “duet” or “stitch,” does it include voiceover, or the “text-to-speech” function. Next the
visual elements are going to be analysed and then a broader context for example if a specific
meme was incorporated or is it in line with a certain trend or joke and the relevance of the
song or sound used will be taken into consideration. All these aspects piece together the actual
message in this type of media thus it is integral to approach it on multiple levels.

Study will take into consideration only videos in English language. The sample will
consist of publicly available TikTok content, more specifically, chosen videos from public
accounts that use hashtags with the following keywords and their variations: women, girl,
womanhood, feminine, being a woman. Additional research of assumed hashtags and possible
connected hashtags might be necessary in the process to maximize the research possibilities as
done by other scholars (Cervi and Marín-Lladó, 2022) (Eriksson, 2021). Data will be
collected manually throughout a period of 1 month with use of a research account specifically
opened for the purposes of this study and the TikTok's Discover feature. Videos will be
downloaded for the purposes of analysis. Study will be focusing on establishing firstly the
main themes commonly arising under those hashtags which will be achieved through a pilot
study at the beginning of the data gathering process. Pilot study will also be used to find main
influencers or specific popular videos connected to themes or categories. Later those themes
will be revisited in a more in-depth manner. Videos selected are going to be ones preferably
over 10,000 views and with visible high engagement (such as numerous comments and likes).

The number of 100 videos will be compiled for the purposes of the study unless a
bigger sample will be proven necessary. Preferably in that amount specific themes that will be
especially appropriate for purposes of this study will be showcased. Study will establish the
process with the typology of the videos to later go into in depth analysis of chosen most
interesting or fitting ones. Analysis will be carried out with constant comparison of
established theory and presented before themes. At the same time leaving space for an open
approach toward the encountered content.

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List of Appendices
Appendix no. 1: Content Analysis (Excel file)
Due to limitations coming from the use of Excel file format file formats, the appendix file is externally stored. It has been uploaded online and can be retrieved from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jd6ekWg0cFr81136F8e0yXQBfDYs0Dou/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114043531855970360338&rtpof=true&sd=true. Additionally, the appendix is also available on demand by e-mail request to the author at [e-mail]

Předběžná náplň práce

Hlavním předmětem této studie je prozkoumat zobrazení ženství a ženskosti v médiích. Studie stručně vysvětluje význam ženskosti a ženství na základě jejich kritik od Judith Butler (2007), Simone de Beauvoir (2015) a Donny Harawayové (1991), aby zakotvila zkoumání existujících teorií. Dále práce ukazuje dosavadní poznatky o omezených a problematických reprezentacích tradičních médií. Kromě toho zdůrazňuje pozitivní a negativní reprezentace sociálních médií a pokouší se o případovou studii videoobsahu na téma nalezené v aplikaci sociálních médií TikTok. Dosahuje se toho pomocí multimodální obsahové analýzy 40 videí pod hashtagy ženství a ženskost. Zjištění ukázala, že v aplikaci jsou šířeny jak omezující myšlenky feminity a genderu, tak feministické a podvratné reprezentace.

Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

A core subject of this study is to examine the portrayals of womanhood and femininity in media. The study briefly explains the meaning of femininity and womanhood based on critiques of the concepts from Judith Butler (2007), Simone de Beauvoir (2015), and Donna Haraway (1991). Furthermore, the thesis showcases the existing findings on limited and problematic traditional media representations. Additionally, it highlights positive and negative social media representations and attempts a case study of video content on the topic found on the social media application TikTok. It is achieved with multimodal content analysis of 40 videos under hashtags womanhood and femininity. Findings have shown that both the confining ideas of femininity and gender, as well as the feminist and subversive representations, are being disseminated on the application.