@dr.shawna: What responsibilities do influencers have for what they say? The conversations that make public? The knowledge they spread? Using social science, feminist research methods, and social philosophy, this video examines these questions through concepts connected to “Epistemic responsibility” and intentions vs. impact. What do we owe other people when speaking from large platforms? What does it actually mean to “know well” in online spaces? #LearnOnTikTok #socialscience #DidYouKnow
I think we very much need to emphasize that accountability does NOT necessary mean punishment.
2026-08-28 21:54:01
3266
Kat [-o-] 🖤💛❤️ 🇦🇺 :
Indigenous Data Sovereignty!! It’s a big part of my work (evaluating services delivered to Aboriginal people in Australia)
2026-10-24 05:39:09
0
user2049547556833 :
ok girl but what happened??? what is the reason for this video?
2026-08-28 20:46:34
8
user9686055172066 :
The idea that someone took something that was said over a year ago, spun it out of context and created this much discourse during Drew's wedding month feels so purposeful. During this really important time in her life, her entire audience turned on her and did not give her an ounce of understanding
2026-08-29 06:21:54
524
dr.shawna :
When someone gets something wrong publicly, what does meaningful accountability look like?
2026-08-28 19:46:55
330
Essie Gong-Henny :
i find it so individualistic to equate accountability with punishment, that just maintains inequality, its giving little weight to repare
2026-08-28 20:42:51
551
Kas :
Just curious if you have a direct perspective on this specific situation. I have a trans daughter and my primary social group is LGBTQIA+. My perspective was that the show and follow up, expressed a very specific and beautiful perspective on how womanhood is perceived. I think it was absolutely clumsy and required a slightly less combative approach. But fundamentally I thought drew and her guest both expressed that womanhood is like a garden inside someone and not the flowers on the surface. That womanhood is a truth, whilst postural femininity is an affectation of (though not dichotomous to) womanhood. That trans woman discover the garden and nurture it, as the alternate being, growing up in the garden. So that sometimes trans women have a more focused perspective on womanhood. So. I’m just curious of your perspective on the situation specifically.
2026-08-29 02:49:08
185
Kevin Grady :
I love your research and analysis, as always. My issue with this framing, though, is that it feels like it places the onus on creators to always consider the least charitable framing someone could conceive when sharing perspectives on any topic. These were two individuals sharing rough-draft *personal* opinions on a topic. If people disagree, they are free to scroll, block, unfollow. Is it always one’s responsibility to make discourse legible to every person on the Internet engaging in bad faith? Who has ultimate approval authority on which ideas are shared—and how? Are we doomed to drown in an ocean of bean soup forever?
2026-08-29 15:01:14
33
Zac.hh02 :
I agree accountability should be more prevalent but Im wary about how we approach accountability in media produced by people from marginalized communities. It truly is impossible to predict every way ones political statements can be misinterpreted and taken in bad faith. Lenses that focus on the individuals responsibilities but don't focus on the environments perceiving and manipulating their media can lead to the very misinterpretations causing harm that we want to prevent.
2026-08-28 22:25:32
33
.2amShopper :
impact over intent. cuz I promise u if the impact was positive they'd be front and center to soak up the gratitude. keep that same energy wen the impact is negative
2026-08-28 20:26:46
66
ittylloll 🌍🇪🇺🇫🇮🏳️🌈 :
such an important topic now, in the age of the internet 👏
2026-08-28 19:50:36
113
Voidburg :
I’m wondering if you might be able to expand on the part of writing being taken out of context by someone who might not have best intentions or use it as an opportunity to disparage marginalized groups, at that point would the original creator of the writing still be responsible and held accountable for the misuse of their property?
2026-08-28 22:11:19
28
blue :
as a social worker, situations like these kinda remind me of the concepts restorative justice vs punitive justice. punitive justice has always been instilled in us but its so interesting to see how this carries over to social contracts. especially in the age of the internet, social media and influencers.
2026-08-29 03:33:34
11
Mauricio :
I wonder if this research will ever include an audiences desire to get mad about something, and an audience’s ability to produce a reality on which what was said is distorted to be the most hurtful fantasy of it.
2026-08-29 22:00:29
10
xsir3na :
side note: why did you delete your southern belle video? i was in middle of watching it when it stopped ☹️i was really enjoying it and find the topic very important to discuss as well.
2026-08-28 21:34:15
23
its kitty :
“Hot takes with citations”? I love women
2026-08-29 01:57:34
63
Gabby :
Intent doesn’t reduce impact, people can control actions not feelings. If you didn’t intend to hurt someone but still did, it only makes sense to apologize
2026-08-29 23:25:04
22
Nero :
I like this concept of responsibility. Absolutely influencers are responsible for the content they put out there. At the same time, the ‘audience’ has a responsibility too. So often in public opinion, we want to punish rather than have an open discourse.
2026-08-30 01:31:18
8
No-elle :
I would argue that when she posted a video towards trans women explaining how she understands the ways that these conversations effect them and place them at the forefront of backlash was her being responsive. To everyone else who were using it as a an excuse to be bigoted she refused to be responsive bc doing so would mean compromising her ethics and morals.
2026-08-29 17:55:22
24
Ava :
So, if I understand Shawna's framework correctly, we could instead ask
- whether the conversation included the right voices,
- framed the issue carefully enough,
- anticipated predictable misunderstandings, and
- responded appropriately once those misunderstandings became consequential.
2026-08-29 09:42:06
12
Jamie Sue :
I have a adult trans daughter that transitioned in middle school. She understands that she benefited from the patriarchy, and she sometimes still does (example: she knows how her guys friends are behind closed doors). We also know and acknowledge that the patriarchy hurts her now in a different way. We’ve had so many conversations about safety, because she grew up feeling safe in away that I did not. She wasn’t scared of boys and men growing up in the way that I was. But now she is less safe than I am now, because trans women are statistically less safe than cis women. I don’t find it necessary to belittle either of our experiences.
2026-08-30 21:28:01
5
Grendel :
would you also agree that a lot of these discussions that include or feature a lot of intersectionality on the internet aren't handled with care and often people who don't understand the conversation or haven't had more than a 5 second thought on the topic jump straight to outrage and hatred? Tiktok especially does not have the content capacity to have meaningful discussions topics that are sensitive or intersectional.
2026-08-28 22:55:35
11
Leah :
I’d like to hear more about epistemic responsibility. I work in liberal political spaces but I’m not college educated and I’m scared of saying the wrong thing.
2026-08-29 08:20:13
7
zu✨🍉 :
Would you have any more papers like that?????? I want to write my master thesis about the inner exclusions within the LGBTQ+ community, but from science of sociology perspective, where I treat queer theories as an active participant in the creation of the discourse, and I judge them how theymselfs could be exclusionary. And also wanna write about transphobia and biphobia within grup. Maybe even about the distinction between being LGBT and being queer and what does that mean in the modern perspective. If any ona have some good papers or materials to recommend I would be very grateful ☺️
2026-08-28 22:44:29
14
To see more videos from user @dr.shawna, please go to the Tikwm
homepage.