JAG ÄR BARA EN TJEJ. En multimodal kritisk diskursanalys av hur TikTok-trenden ”I’m just a girl” framställer kvinnor

Abstract

Executive summary In 1995, the rock band No Doubt released the hit song Just a Girl, in which the lead singer Gwen Stefani poked fun at the reality of being a woman. With its socially critical lyrics reflecting women's experiences and struggles, it quickly became a feminist anthem. Nearly three decades later, the song Just A Girl has been given new life, especially on TikTok. A platform which has emerged as one of the top in the world, since the evermore expanding of social media during the last decades. Women in particular have rediscovered, and even redefined, the message behind the song. The trend ”I’m just a girl” has circulated on several social media platforms, where No Doubt’s song is frequently used. This trend appears in many different ways, but often involves women excusing or justifying their mistakes and problems by pointing out that they are “just a girl”. The purpose of this study is to examine how gender roles, stereotypes and ideals are expressed, created and recreated on the social media platform TikTok. This by analyzing the portrayal of women and ideas of femininity conveyed through the TikTok trend “I’m just a girl”. Firstly, we wanted to study which female stereotypes appeared in the trend. This leads us to ask the question: Which female stereotypes are portrayed in the “I'm Just a Girl” trend? Secondly, we wanted to examine if the representations of femininity are reproduced or challenged. Which leads us to our next research question: Which perceptions of femininity are reproduced and/or questioned in the “I'm Just a Girl”-trend? This paper is based on a qualitative research method and consists of a two-step analysis of the trend. First, by conducting a thematic analysis of a total of 100 TikTok-videos that all were part of the ”I’m just a girl” trend. Videos which were selected based on the study’s specific requirements and limitations, by the use of filters, publication date and number of likes. Later, by performing a multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) based on the various themes that emerged in the thematic analysis. For each theme we chose a TikTok-video that we believed best represented the theme. We identified four themes in the thematic analysis and selected one video for each. However, for one theme, we selected two videos, making the total number of videos analyzed five. Our initial thematic analysis found that the trend revolves around four main themes or stereotypes. We chose to categorize these stereotypes as ideal types and referred to them as: The Superficial, The Dumb, The Rebel, and The Victim. The findings showed that a relatively large majority of the TikTik videos depicted traditionally feminine stereotypes, mostly portraying women as superficial, helpless, and incompetent. At the same time, we observed how other representations either partially, or entirely, opposed this image. These videos insead depicted norm-breaking women who were both strong and competent. As expected, our MCDA analysis revealed how some of the discourses reproduce stereotypes and norms, while others – and sometimes the same discourses – challenge them. In other words, the trend switches between recreating and questioning established perceptions of what it means to be a woman.