Languaging Male Psychological Struggles on TikTok

Discourses of Selfhood and Belonging

Abstract

This study investigates the ways in which masculinity and mental health intersect on TikTok, analysing how social media platforms reframe traditional gender norms through emotionally charged discourses. Three distinct typologies of masculine identity, constructed in TikTok videos, have been identified using Multimodal Discourse Analysis. It is by examining all the semiotic elements present in these videos that a number of recurring “micro-performances” concurrently serving to challenge and bolster hegemonic masculinity have been brought to the fore. Although the digital performances initially appear to index novel masculine archetypes, the re-emergence of canonical traits such as emotional repression, self-reliance, and resilience ultimately serves to reaffirm conventional gender hierarchies.

The study, in fact, reveals that TikTok’s affective publics exploit these tropes to strengthen, rather than counter, traditional masculine ideals and that social media serves to shape men’s mental health stories by strengthening emotional isolation and maintaining patterns of self-reliance that make it more difficult for society to engage with vulnerability. When these findings are set off against current discussions on digital masculinities, it becomes evident that modern masculinity is both called into question and shielded against change in today’s fast-changing digital ecosphere.