Problem formulation

The discussion surrounding feminism has always been one of much debate. Expressions of
feminism are nothing new – the defense of women has had its scarce but substantial evidence
dating back to the ancient world. Over the course of history, feminism had always needed to
adapt itself to the popular contemporary channels of communication: from French literary
works of the Enlightenment era to 1960s’ public demonstrations. With the second and third
waves of feminism, along came more complex means of communication. Modern feminists
are met with the same crucial mission as their predecessors: adapting to a new platform
emerging only over a decade ago - social media.

Social network sites have given feminism a voice like none other has before. They are a
powerful tool, for those who know how to utilize them. In recent years, they have proved
their roles in the conversation surrounding social issues, especially those relating to feminism.
With social media, feminist ideologies are easily spread to an ever-growing audience,
attracting the social attention that early feminists could only dream of. With this great power
comes even greater responsibilities to modern feminists: using this tool effectively and
correctly means finding a new path for the movement, which has now been in crisis in recent
years.

Among these social network sites, TikTok emerged as the newest “big player”. It is one of the
fastest growing social media platform as of 2022, with an unforeseen amount of traffic,
stretching from casual lighthearted daily content to more serious, and more political subjects
– such as feminism.

The sheer amount of traffic that TikTok generates on a daily basis is enough to ensure the
spread of ideas and opinions, be they pro or anti-feminist. What it has brought to the table are
not only positive, but there are also negative consequences that come along with the
radicalities of bringing the conversation online. The opposing forces of radical feminism
manifests themselves in various forms, many of which also gained their voices through
TikTok.

The fourth wave of feminism has emerged around 2012, “with a focus on sexual harassment,
body shaming, and rape culture, among other issues. A key component [of fourth wave
feminism] was the use of social media to highlight and address these concerns.”[1]. Social
media is at the forefront of feminism in recent years, and researching into their impacts,
especially one of sizable traffic like TikTok, on expressions of feminism, is of great
relevance. The topic is also one that resonates to the author, as a coming-of-age young female
student of color in Media Studies, who uses TikTok as a source of entertainment daily and is
curious about is sociopolitical effects.

Research questions

The aforementioned themes will be examined through the following research questions:

“Is TikTok’s format beneficial to the advocate of feminism or those opposing it?”

“Are the radical retaliations to the new gender-sensitive social landscape on TikTok stronger
than the rhetoric of the feminist movements themselves?”

The author’s hypotheses

TikTok’s format and how it affects users’ contents consumption habits.

TikTok, formerly known as musical.ly from 2014 to 2017, is a Chinese short-form

videohosting service. They also have their own Chinese version of the application, called
DouYin. However, this research paper only focuses on the effects of their international
version - TikTok. The application’s navigation is simplistic, with only three feed pages:
Following Page, For You Page and the newly added Nearby Page.

Following Page displays contents from the list of creators that the users follow, and the For
You Page (FYP) displays videos from a selection of videos that are on trend or those the
TikTok algorithm calculated to be matching with the users’ interests. The Following Page
algorithm operates in the same as any other social media algorithm. The Nearby Page
displays contents by creators that are in close geographical proximity with the user. However,
the FYP algorithm is more carefully calculated and often times very specifically constructed
to each user’s content consumption tendencies, even though it contains contents made by
creators that the user might not follow. The majority of TikTok users will spend most of their
time on the application in the FYP instead of the Following Page, as it shows contents from a
wide collection of creators, but with little to no stray from their actual interest. For example,
an user interested in female fashion will have a FYP filled with fashion contents from female
creators. Sometimes the contents will be exacted to their very day-to-day interests: someone
who is interested in minimalist fashion style will rarely see contents containing colorful
maximalist fashion.

TikTok operates as a short-form video hosting service. Their contents duration can range
from 15 seconds up to 10 minutes. However, most users find longer video less attractive, and
the majority of viral videos often range from 21 to 34 seconds(2). This short-video format
sets them aside from other social media, as it ensures a constant feed of contents to users.
Major video-accommodating platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook soon follow
suits as they also incorporate a short-video feature, but none could duplicate the enormous
success as that of TikTok. The fact that longer videos have a lower tendency of gaining
traffic, means that creators are more likely to opt for shorter videos, in order to maintain the
followers’ attention. Shorter videos are equivalent to more condensed contents, meaning a
higher tendency of stronger speech used to get the message across. This has subsequently
transformed the way social issues is discussed on the application, and feminism-related
content is not an exception to this.

TikTok users swipe through the feed constantly, since stopping means the same video will
replay in a loop, unlike the automatic play feature that are seen on other video-accommodated
platforms. This ensures a constant interaction between users and the application whether the
users choose to watch the entirety of the contents or not. On YouTube, another major video-
sharing platform, users need to tap or click to choose the next contents available if they wish
to skip the current one, which is much more complex compared to the one swipe of TikTok.

It is worth noting that most of TikTok’s traffic comes through smart phone users. The
platform can be accessed through computers or tablets and any other devices with Internet
connection, however, TikTok’s format is the most compatible with smartphones users. The
frame ratio of most contents is 9:16, the same as a standard smartphone screen ratio. The
swiping motion is converted into a vertical click when viewed on the website. Most TikTok
features are therefore more compatible with smartphone users. This partiality for smartphone
users subsequently influences users’ content consumption habits.

Giai thich format ne

Short video duration ntn

Phan lown ng dung la tren dth

Giai thich nos k tuong thich va k thuan tien tren laptop hoặc cac thiet bi to hon ntn -> anh
huowng den thoi quen consum content ra sao

Demographic chu yeu la ng tre adolescent

Gender issues

Maybe narrowdown demographic cho research?

(1): brittannica encyclopedia

(2): https://flixier.com/blog/ideal-tiktok-video-length-and-size-in-2022

(3): https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2021/09/27/tiktok-hits-1-billion-monthly-
active-users/

framework

Theoretical

This research aims to explain TikTok’s psychological influence on its users on the basis of
two theories: Daniel Kahneman’s theory of Heuristics and Biases and the Theory of
Distributive Justice.

Social network sites have undoubtedly left their imprints on its users. However, one of the
many influences they have that might go unnoticed is a psychological one. The entertainment
that they offer might alter the state of mind that one chooses to adopt while opening these
applications.

According to Kahneman’s

In our mind coexist two mental systems, which Daniel Kahneman referred to as System 1 and
2. “System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of
voluntary control. System 2 allocates attention to the effortful media activities that demand it,
including complex computations”.(4)
To put it simply, System 1 handles simpler tasks like differentiating distance of objects.
System 2 is what we think of ourselves as – the rational and intellectual part of our mind.
However, System 1 is more dominant than one might think. This is because on a cognitive
level, attention is shared between the two systems, and while System 1 can run on automatic
pilot, System 2 requires constant direct attention for the required computations. When proper
attention is not given to the task, System 2 will be disrupted, and our mind switched back to a
simpler thinking mechanism.

The interaction between the 2 systems go beyond the shared limited amount of attention.
System 2 is normally on “a comfortable low-effort mode”, and it constantly receives
suggestions from system 1, in the form of “impressions, intuitions, intentions and feelings”.
When introduced to a new piece of content, System 1 will likely be the first to generates
reactions to it. This instant reaction is then sent to System 2 to be further analyzed. Almost
everyone is subjected to this process. Furthermore, System 1 is subjected to prefixed
prejudices and stereotypes. It is likely that our initial reaction to a content is handled by
System 1, with certain way of thinking or prejudices that exist because of cultural or identity
differences. In most cases, suggestions by System 1 will often be adopted by System 2 with
little to no modification.

It is extremely difficult to think and exist outside of our own prejudicial thoughts because of
this. Generally, people “believe their impressions and act on their desires”. One of the most
important characteristics of System 1 is that it cannot be turned off, it will always be “on
autopilot” in the back of our mind. “System 1 has biases… and sometimes answer easier
questions than the one it was asked”.

The division of workload between the two systems is not just purely cooperative, in fact,
multiple problems might arise. Kahneman suggested a test to illustrate the “illusions” that
might be created because of System 1’s autonomy

Applying Kahneman;s dtheo

This certain limitation might prove useful in cases that demand our immediate reaction,
however, in the case of complicated social circumstances with the presence of complex
concept like feminism, it makes it incredibly hard to think clearly and arrive to the
“politically correct” answer.
Anti-feminism has seen a surge in their amount of digital traffic in the last few years, in
various forms: from far-right demonstrations to .