Platformed Femininities: Dual Authenticity Labor of Women Game Streamers

This article examines how women game streamers in Taiwan negotiate digital femininities through dual authenticity labor , strategically managing visibility across platforms with conflicting gendered expectations. Using digital ethnography and interviews with three streamers active on Twitch, Facebook, and Instagram, the findings reveal a paradox: gaming platforms demand technical competence to establish legitimacy in masculine-coded spaces, while influencer-driven platforms reward aesthetic labor and personal branding. Rather than treating these platform-specific constraints as opposing forces, streamers recalibrate authenticity, distributing femininity across platforms to maximize engagement and commercial viability. This research advances feminist platform studies by demonstrating how gendered digital labor is shaped by platform governance, community norms, and algorithmic visibility. By foregrounding digital femininities as a dynamic and strategic process, this research further contributes to Femininities scholarship by revealing how authenticity is actively negotiated rather than passively constrained, expanding understandings of gendered self-presentation in platform economies.