| dc.description.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. | sv |
