‘If the rise of the TikTok dance and e-girl aesthetic has taught us anything, it’s that teenage girls rule the internet right now’: TikTok celebrity, girls and the Coronavirus crisis

Abstract

During the global lockdowns brought about by the Coronavirus crisis, TikTok saw a phenomenal rise in users and cultural visibility. This short essay argues that the media attention paid to TikTok during this time can be read as a celebration of girlhood in the face of the pandemic, and can be seen to contribute to the transformation of girls’ ‘bedroom culture’ (McRobbie and Garber, 2006) from a space previously conceptualised as private and safe from judgement, to one of public visibility, surveillance and evaluation. Focusing on Charli D’Amelio, this essay argues that the increasing visibility of TikTok and rising celebrity of D’Amelio during the Coronavirus crisis continues and intensifies the longer history of young female celebrity culture, and obscures the dangers and impacts faced by girls around the world who are situated outside of the ideals embodied in TikTok stars like D’Amelio.