“Just kidding... or not?” Ambiguity, failure, and humour in the representation of influencers’ successful femininity on TikTok
“Just kidding... or not?” Ambiguity, failure, and humour in the representation of influencers’ successful femininity on TikTok

Summary/Abstract: The main aim of this paper is to better understand which role humour plays in the self-presentation of three of the top-ranked Spanish TikTok influencers: Lucía Bellido (@itsbellido), Mónica Moran (@monismurf) and Lola Moreno (@lolaloliitaaa). As young, hypervisible girls, they embody an updated version of the postfeminist ideal of a confident, empowered, and successful femininity. At the same time, they are expected to carry out a particular form of gendered emotional labour that involves being pleasant, accessible, and relatable (Hochschild, 2003 [1983]; McRobbie, 2009; Kanai, 2019a, 2019b). This study draws on a qualitative analysis of 300 videos shared by the three analysed tiktokers to explore how they incorporate humour and comedy resources encouraged by the socio-technical features from TikTok in their online self-presentations. I argue that humour is not only a way to foster authenticity and portray a more relatable self for their followers, but also an alibi to navigate gender expectations and engage with emotions that overflow the moderate femininity, such as vulnerability, sexual desire, or anger.

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