Social Media for Feminist Activisms: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Welcome back to my blog! :)

In this podcast discussion I talk about the opportunities and challenges of utilising social media for feminist activism with my co-pilot Kathryn Aedy.  

Throughout my internship at Isis I was able to learn a lot about social media, and gave workshops on social media for feminist activism to various groups of women/activists. These experiences gave me valuable insights into the ever-growing phenomenon, and left me more confused than ever about the emancipatory power of social media for feminist advocacy as it is conflicted, contradictory, and complex relationship. 

There are undeniable benefits to using social media for feminist advocacies; however, I think it is more important to analyse the limitations and problematics surrounding social media and feminist activisms.  Centering the reality of the digital divide, and who can (and more importantly) cannot access these technologies is critical.  Who has the resources and the ability to use social media for feminist advocacy? Moreover, social media presents new challenges to women's security, and has been a mechanism to enact violence against women in a variety of ways.  These are all realities that need to be addressed when looking at social media and feminist activisms.

It is hoped that our dialogue sheds light on some of the many issues surrounding this phenomenon while acknowledging that it is difficult to come to any concrete conclusions about feminist activism and social media.  It is also important to keep in mind that whether people engage with these new forms of technologies or not, technology will still be there and is (at the fear of sounding paranoid) bigger than we are. This has implications for feminist activists and people working towards ending structural forms of domination and oppression. 

I wanted to take this chance to share some of the awesome resources I have come across that relate to this topic: 

-Take Back the Tech is a collaborative campaign to reclaom information and communication technologies (ICTs) to end violence against women.

-Tactical Technology Collective: Information Activism is a great resource for activists and goes over ten strategies to effectively communicate a cause/ create a successful campaign using digital technologies.  They also have a one hour documentary that  can be viewed online.  It is a great resource that gives examples of how different activists in various political contexts are using social media to change the world. 

-Feminist Tech Exchange uses skills sharing, information exchange and discussions to explore feminist practices and politics of technology, and to raise "awareness about the critical role of communication rights in the struggle to advance women's rights world wide." 

-DigiActive provides many tools and resources for online security for activists, including comprehensive privacy guides for social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as how to use a proxy to protect your identity online.  Check out their "tools you can use section" for more information! They also document how digital activism is being used world wide and provide regional information on campaign using digital technology.

These are just a few of many resources/tools.... If you have any other resources about using social media for feminist activism, please share them in the comments section!  I think I will be confused for quite a while about whether and how to use social media for my activism; however, it is important to continue to think about as this technology is not going anywhere. Navigating my convoluted relationship with social media continues.

Till next time,

Leah 

 

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Leah Staples is working for six months as a Communications Assistant with Isis International in Quezon City, Philippines.

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