Title

The Rise of the Manfluencer: Exploring Masculinities and Misogyny on TikTok

Speaker

Kaarel Lott, visiting PhD student from University of Tartu

Abstract

The manosphere has rapidly moved from anonymous forum-based communities to more mainstream contexts, generating well-known manfluencers with mass followings. Manfluencers are content creators who weaponise highly performative, extremist notions of masculinity and promote sexist ideas about women. The impact of their content is evident across the world as many countries are faced with the increasingly conservative and radical political views of boys and men.

In the presentation of my PhD project, I examine how recent shifts in the manosphere have altered the dynamics of networked misogyny by exploring both the ideological and audiovisual elements of Estonian manfluencers’ content. With two out of three studies completed in my dissertation, the project draws mainly on theoretical perspectives from gender theory and influencer studies. By employing a combination of discourse analysis, standardised content analysis, group exercises and individual interviews, results expose internationalisation processes in the manosphere together with the increasingly covert nature of networked misogyny.

The results of this project are crucial for understanding and tackling gender-based disinformation and for empowering social media audiences, especially young boys and men, to seek healthier ideas about masculinity. Until now, I have been primarily focused on empirical work, therefore I would be grateful for any ideas and feedback regarding the theoretical framework of the project!

Bio

Kaarel is a PhD student in digital media studies at the University of Tartu. His doctoral project is focused on networked misogyny, gendered disinformation, and misogynist influencers in online spaces. In Malmö, he will be writing up a research article and report about masculinity in Estonia. His research interests include studying digital cultures and the dynamics of social norms online with a particular focus on ambivalent or problematic online practices, such as shaming, trolling, misogyny and online dramas.

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