"I'm Constantly Getting Comments Like,'Oh, You're Blind. You're Like the Only Woman That I Stand a Chance With.'": A Study of Blind TikTokers'Intersectional Experiences of Gender and Sexuality

2026-01-16

AI Summary

This study examines the systemic marginalization experienced by blind women and LGBTQ+ individuals on TikTok due to the intersection of gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 41 blind users and employing a sociotechnical systems perspective alongside qualitative thematic analysis, the research introduces the concept of “infrastructural marginalization” to elucidate how platform technical mechanisms—such as content categorization and moderation—interact with societal biases to exclude users with intersecting marginalized identities. The study also highlights user agency through practices of “infrastructural building,” wherein participants actively reshape their digital environments. It concludes with design recommendations for more inclusive social media platforms, including accessible creator tools, expanded identity representation options, and context-aware content moderation systems.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Computer Vision: Bias, Fairness & Privacy

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Social and technical mechanisms of refusal for web technologies and applications
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Decentralized Web and Fediverse systems
• Social Networks and Social Media: Socio-technical web-based systems

Abstract

Social media platforms are important venues for identity expression, and the Human-Computer Interaction community has been paying growing attention to how marginalized groups express their identities on these platforms. Joining the emerging literature on intersectional experiences, we study blind TikTokers ("BlindTokers") who are also women and/or LGBTQ+. Using interview data from \rev{41} participants, we identify their intersectional experiences as mediated by TikTok's socio-technical affordances. We argue that BlindTokers'intersectional marginalization is infrastructural: TikTok's classification and moderation features interact with social norms in ways that push them aside and distort how they are treated on the platform. We use this infrastructure perspective to understand what these experiences are, how they were formed, and how they become harmful. We further recognize participants'infrastructuring work to address these problems. This study guides future social media design with accessible creator tools, inclusive identity options, and context-aware moderation developed in partnership with communities.

Problem

• intersectionality
• blindness
• gender
• sexuality
• social media

Innovation

• intersectional marginalization
• infrastructural perspective
• accessible social media design
• context-aware moderation
• BlindTokers