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This chapter performs a qualitative content analysis of 87 TikTok videos, created by US momfluencers, that resist the ideology of intensive mothering (IMI): a gendered model of parenting that jeopardizes the well-being of mothers, particularly those who are already marginalized, and is the prevailing philosophy of child-rearing in the modern US. Engaging feminist media theory and social reproduction theory, the authors argue that mothers’ creative digital expression challenges IMI via eight resistance strategies: writing listicles, centering mom as content creator, using expletives, self-disclosure, affirming mothers, educating audiences, comparing heteronormative parental roles, and self-defense. These TikToks reveal the harrowing——and often invisible——labor of social reproduction. The authors suggest that the dissemination of these TikToks to widespread audiences can promote collective recognition of, and perhaps resistance against, oppressive standards of motherhood.

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#BadMomsOfTikTok: How US Momfluencers Engage Social Media to Subvert Notions of Intensive Mothering

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Leah Cates,
  • Lacy Guzmán

摘要

This chapter performs a qualitative content analysis of 87 TikTok videos, created by US momfluencers, that resist the ideology of intensive mothering (IMI): a gendered model of parenting that jeopardizes the well-being of mothers, particularly those who are already marginalized, and is the prevailing philosophy of child-rearing in the modern US. Engaging feminist media theory and social reproduction theory, the authors argue that mothers’ creative digital expression challenges IMI via eight resistance strategies: writing listicles, centering mom as content creator, using expletives, self-disclosure, affirming mothers, educating audiences, comparing heteronormative parental roles, and self-defense. These TikToks reveal the harrowing——and often invisible——labor of social reproduction. The authors suggest that the dissemination of these TikToks to widespread audiences can promote collective recognition of, and perhaps resistance against, oppressive standards of motherhood.