The Thermometer Broke! Digital Purdah, Class, and Gender Transgressions on Pakistani TikTok

Abstract

Research on women’s social media practices in Muslim societies has primarily focused on middle-class or elite women, such as influencers, activists, and members of online communities. However, we know little about working-class women’s use of social media in Muslim contexts. Using ethnography and interviews, I analyze TikTok’s early popularity with working-class women in Pakistan and report three main findings. First, TikTok’s initial reception in Pakistan was fractured across class lines; whereas middle-class and elite women dismissed it, working-class women flocked to it, and TikTok became associated with a “low-class” femininity. Second, women engaged in a range of gender transgressions on TikTok. Third, women simultaneously crafted new practices of “digital purdah,” or veiling, on TikTok. I contribute to scholarship on digital purdah by, first, showing how women combine tools available on TikTok with other veiling strategies to conceal their identity while expressing their sexuality and second, arguing that “digital purdah” is compatible, rather than incongruous, with gender transgressions on TikTok. By showing how co-constituted class and gender dynamics shaped the simultaneous popularity and moral disapproval of TikTok in Pakistan, I argue for increased attention to class dynamics in studies of new social media platforms.

When Stories Turn Institutional: How TikTok Users Legitimate the Algorithmic Sensemaking

“…For example, in a study conducted by Siles et al (2022), it was observed that participants attributed political valences to TikTok recommendations, specifically linking them to a presidential candidate from Costa Rica based on the interests of users “with the same profile” (p. 12). Another example is Kamran’s (2023) recent study on Pakistani TikTok users, where the author observes that the presence on TikTok is often associated with a “low-class femininity” (p. 1) in Pakistani society. Algorithms play a significant role in how users search for information and, simultaneously, in how knowledge systems are embodied through algorithms (Gillespie, 2014).…”

“…However, this restricted scope can be advantageous as it validates the institutional elements unique to Romania. Further studies could investigate the complex interplay between the algorithmic stories and the institutional values in other cultural contexts, given the fact that research has been carried out on TikTok activity in Costa Rica (Siles et al, 2022), Pakistan (Kamran, 2023), and so on. Another limitation arises from the relatively short distance between the stages of this study.…”