Just being a bit bitchy: The gendered valences of online anti-social behavior on Tattle Life

Abstract

Tattle Life is a gossip website dedicated to the critique of online influencers. Described in the Guardian as a “troll’s paradise,” this site has been linked to doxing, cyberbullying, and other online anti-social behaviors. How do Tattle Life participants legitimize their behavior in the context of external criticism from media outlets, influencers, and the public, more broadly? To answer this question, this paper examines 920 posts from the “Tattle in the Press” forum, a unique space where community members share and discuss negative publicity about Tattle Life. Findings show that this online community legitimizes itself by deploying a feminine gender identity in three overlapping and internally contradictory ways: 1) to minimize the power of their community to do harm, 2) to provide moral justification for their actions, and 3) to claim the status of persecuted victims. Implications for understanding the perpetration of online anti-social behavior, more broadly, are discussed.