Está en la página 1de 5

Brooke Saffire

Digital Activism for Feminists

March 18, 2019

SC 210
Social media is such a powerful tool and when it's used the right way, it can make huge

improvements to social issues. For this paper I really wanted to focus on how social media is

changing the feminist movement by raising new perspectives to it. In 2015, the most powerful

weapon for the feminist movement was created—the hashtag.

Years ago, those that were trying to bring awareness to sexism had very few avenues to

do so in a public way. Discussion of feminism and the values of feminists were extremely lim-

ited. Before Facebook and Twitter became the most popular platforms for news, feminists would

participate in rallies, even though the rallies were only available to those who were in particular

areas.

Social media came around and has completely transformed the social issue of sexism by

raising new perspectives. Because of social media, this helped turn it into this successful digital

movement. It opened up participation and involvement to anyone with social media platforms,

such as Twitter! Twitter became this outlet where feminists could go to fight the patriarchy.

(msnbc.com) The setbacks due to distance and geography quickly went away and platforms such

as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram allowed feminists to spread their message and stories easier

than ever. These platforms became an outlet for awareness on the many issues feminists feel they

face, and allowed for a change.

In 2013, a group of women wanted to protest an abortion bill in Texas. A bunch of local

women gathered and rallied together at the Texas State Capitol, and those who could not attend

went online to protest. A hashtag was created #StandWithWendy, supporting Wendy Davis,

State Representative, through her 13-hour filibuster. (mysanantonio.com) When women wanted

to protest sexist t-shirts that a children clothing company created, they flooded their Facebook

page
with hashtags and comments until the company was forced to face the issue, could no longer ig-

nore the reactions and eventually had to get rid of that product. Also, in 2015 women protested

red carpet questions that were asked at Oscar award shows which they felt were superficial ques-

tions by using the hashtag #Askhermore. (time.com) That hashtag trended in the Oscars Acad-

emy Awards, and very popular red carpet reporters even mentioned it on air. Famous celebrities

such as Reese Witherspoon supported the hashtag by turning down sexist questions and bringing

attention to the hashtag during interviews. Reporters started asking celebrities questions that

were provided from people on Twitter, instead of the superficial questions. As the hashtag move-

ment continued and started to get more popular, thousands of women created and spread

hashtags to share their stories of sexism that they have experienced.

This digital movement with feminist activism didn’t just raise awareness, it also created

positive results as well. Companies started becoming more sensitive to these topics after receiv-

ing unhappy tweets from many women. For example, Victoria’s Secret changed their “perfect

body” slogan in one of their advertising campaigns after receiving backlash on Twitter due to

thousands of users expressing that the campaign only featured very thin, mostly white models

and they also argued that this was promoting negative body images (msnbc.com).

In 2012, the #StandWithPP hashtag was created after the Susan G. Komen Foundation

announced it would be withdrawing its funding of Planned Parenthood because the organization

provided abortions. (msnbc.com) Planned Parenthood supporters used the hashtag on Twitter to

state their support of the organization and pressure Komen into changing their decision. Komen

responded within days to the repercussions and completely changed their decision. The hashtags

became a way for women to share their message, bring attention to this social issue and connect

with others digitally.


The power of hashtag activism has been extremely effective when it comes to pressuring

companies and/or politicians into making changes. Because of this movement, many companies

and political leaders monitor social media conversations about themselves through hashtags to

see what people are saying. When the social media chatter about companies or specific political

leaders turns negative, it can quickly turn into a PR crisis which everyone tries to avoid.

Social media has offered so much to this feminist movement by raising awareness around

these issues. The power of a hashtag is not to be taken lightly! With many feminists creating and

sharing hashtags through multiple platforms, many of these issues that women face are being

brought to the surface and being forced to be acknowledged. This digital movement has become

a powerful source for women to feel empowered to stand up and fight back against sexism. I feel

that social media activism will never fully replace the power behind a protest or rallies, but social

media can be a voice to those who are otherwise voiceless. Social media offers a different kind

of power that protests and rallies cannot. People from all over the world can come together and

connect and on the same social issues through social media. These digital movements have be-

come so successful and truly allow the public to look at and talk about issues in a different light.

References:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-social-media-changing-the-feminist-movement

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/21-hashtags-that-changed-the-way-we-talk-about-femi-
nism_us_56ec0978e4b084c6722000d1

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Thousands-rally-at-Texas-Capitol-
4640320.php

http://time.com/3718008/oscars-2015-askhermore-reese-witherspoon/

También podría gustarte