Manslamming: Challenging Spatial Entitlement Through Microfeminist Resistance on TikTok
Author
Svenstrup, Katya Dalsgaard
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2026
Abstract
This thesis investigates the phenomenon of manslamming, a term originally used to describe men’s tendency not to yield space on sidewalks, which forces women to adjust their movements, but which increasingly refers to women’s deliberate refusal to move aside. Focusing on TikTok, it analyzes videos where women document this refusal—often framed as “microfeminism” or “patriarchy chicken”—as staged everyday encounters that confront gendered norms of politeness, self-minimization, and spatial accommodation. Using an integrated theoretical framework drawing on feminist theory, spatial theory, affect theory, and media studies, the thesis explores how digital platforms facilitate consciousness-raising by transforming individual experiences of spatial inconvenience and injustice into collectively recognized patterns of gendered asymmetry. The analysis indicates that manslamming operates as a vernacular expression of spatial injustice, as women’s refusal to yield space challenges entrenched expectations of feminine accommodation and the routine bodily labor of continually attending to men’s comfort in public space. At the same time, the material shows that these acts move across different political and affective registers: they are presented both as accessible forms of everyday microfeminist resistance and as minor forms of feminist vigilantism or “digilantism,” in which confronting perceived male entitlement can involve tactics, satisfaction, and anger. TikTok emerges as a key infrastructure in this process, because its formats and networked dynamics enable encounters to be circulated, interpreted, and shared as evidence of unequal conditions governing who is free to move and who is expected to give way. The thesis therefore argues that manslamming expresses an emerging feminist spatial consciousness and demonstrates the value of analyzing gender inequality through a critical spatial lens, while highlighting the need for future intersectional research into how different groups experience and challenge spatial entitlement.
Denne specialeafhandling undersøger fænomenet manslamming, et begreb der opstod til at beskrive mænds tendens til ikke at vige plads på fortovet, men som i stigende grad bruges om kvinders bevidste beslutning om at lade være. Med udgangspunkt i TikTok analyseres videoer, hvor kvinder dokumenterer deres vrag af at flytte sig – ofte omtalt som “microfeminisme” eller “patriarchy chicken” – som iscenesatte hverdagskonfrontationer med kønnede normer for høflighed, selvminimering og rumlig tilpasning. Afhandlingen anvender et integreret teoretisk rammeværk bestående af feministisk teori, rumteori, affektteori og medieteori til at undersøge, hvordan digitale platforme understøtter bevidstgørelse ved at omsætte individuelle oplevelser af rumlig uretfærdighed til kollektivt anerkendte mønstre af kønnet asymmetri. Analysen peger på, at manslamming fungerer som en folkelig måde at udtrykke rumlig uretfærdighed på, idet kvinders manglende vilje til at vige udfordrer dybt rodfæstede forventninger om kvindelig imødekommenhed og den kropslige hverdagsarbejde, der ligger i konstant at tage hensyn til mænds tilstedeværelse i det offentlige rum. Samtidig viser materialet, at disse handlinger bevæger sig mellem forskellige politiske og affektive registre: fra tilgængelige, dagligdags mikrohandlinger til mindre former for feministisk “digilantisme”, hvor modstand mod oplevet mandlig berettigelse kan rumme både taktik, tilfredsstillelse og vrede. TikTok fremstår som en central infrastruktur for denne udvikling, fordi platformens formater og netværkslogikker gør det muligt at cirkulere, fortolke og dele erfaringer, der synliggør de ulige betingelser for, hvem der kan bevæge sig frit, og hvem der forventes at give plads. Afhandlingen argumenterer dermed for, at manslamming udtrykker en spirende feministisk rumlig bevidsthed og illustrerer betydningen af at analysere kønnet ulighed gennem et kritisk rumligt perspektiv, samtidig med at der peges på behovet for fremtidig, intersektionel forskning i, hvordan forskellige grupper oplever og udfordrer rumlig berettigelse.
[This abstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]