Lolcows and the mediation of digital freakshows

Abstract

Emerging in the early 2000s, the lolcow is a vulnerable Internet persona whose digital presence is exploited by online audiences for entertainment and pleasure. Through a case study of one such lolcow, popular TikTok creator and livestreamer Joshua Block (@WorldOfTShirts), this short essay argues that the lolcow’s growing mainstream presence reflects a rise in authoritarian politics and eugenics where disabled people are openly dehumanized. Although disability as amusement object carries a long-standing history in western culture through the ‘fool’ and ‘freak’, the essay’s theoretical analysis and close reading of social media artifacts suggest digital affordances and audience practices render the lolcow into a ‘digital freakshow’.