Feminist Influencers Online: Experiences of Participation, Sexism, and Misogyny

After posting a video on TikTok calling out the misogynistic undertones of the phrase "get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich", I experienced relentless trolling for 3 days. I couldn't open the app without seeing a barrage of abuse, and in the end I had to take a break from the app altogether. I consider myself to have fairly 'thick skin', but I was shocked to find how affected I was as by this experience. As my following on TikTok grows, it's rare that a day goes by without some kind of sexist exchange in the comment section- benign at best, explicit threat of rape of violence, at worst.
As a white, middle-class cisgender woman, my experience on the app will likely be better than most. However for other feminist content creators who sit at different intersections of society, they are likely to experience abuse from multiple angles. When I consider the impact of my own, relatively brief, experience of trolling and the affect that had on my wellbeing- how much more severe is the experience of black women, trans women, disabled women, simply trying to speak their minds? Crucially, how many women are not participating, or have ceased participating in online spaces, as a result of these toxic experiences? The multifaceted nature of online abuse shapes the online feminist community, and those who are willing or able to participate openly. In the age of intersectional feminism, it is crucial that we understand how prejudices influence the opportunities, abuse and experience of feminists online who are not protected by white middle-classed privilege.
In a time where so much of our reality plays out online, understanding the nature of that environment for women is crucial in understanding the future experience for this generation of young women. There is little research on the barriers to female participation in relation to online discourses around feminism. In this context, it is crucial that we understand the extent to which online hostility shapes not only female experience and participation, but also the experience of young men who are exposed to that hostility and find environments in which biases can be incubated into explicit sexism.
This research will focus on the experiences and activities of young female influencers who use social media to promote feminist ideas and practices and their online social interaction with supporters and opponents. A mixed-methods approach will be undertaken to address three key research questions:
RQ1: What are the objectives of feminist influencers and what are the perceived barriers to participation?
RQ2: How do feminist influencers who are active online experience, and respond to, sexist and misogynistic behaviour?
RQ3: How do feminist influencers interact with 'big tech' and how do they see the future of feminism operating in the digital world?
This research aims to provide greater insight into the multifaceted nature of online spaces for young women engaging in feminist discourse, shaping contemporary debates on how incivility, sexism and misogyny are experienced online.