The Hoax of the “Sexual Contract” of the Spanish Ministry of Equality on TikTok: An analysis of the case of anti-feminist post-truth in social networks

Abstract

The Hoax of the “Sexual Contract” of the Spanish Ministry of Equality on TikTok: An analysis of the case of anti-feminist post-truth in social networks

This paper examines how the controversial “Yes means Yes Law” – emphasizing sexual consent in Spain – is approached on TikTok, based on data collected between June and July of 2022. We have investigated the transformation of anti-consent discourse into memes, based on TikTok’s algorithmic recommendations. We have identified four basic categories pertaining to the falsification of the existence of a “sexual contract”: videos that satirize the bureaucracy of sex; those perpetuating the myth of “the bad woman”; those highlighting the perceived “sexual misery” of men; and those comparing consent contracts with sports contracts. Our conclusions underscore the limitations of fact-checking in an anti-feminist, post-truth era.