Online Activism- Feminism Fights Back With Hashtags

If social media does one thing, it provides a platform in which various groups and people and get their message out there for people to see. Many social media campaigns have rocked our world the past couple of years, the biggest possible being #BlackLivesMatter. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, multicultural groups often utilize Twitter and other social media to make their voices known. One movement that often engage in online activism is the Feminist movement. 

So, what exactly is activism? Activism is an intentional action to bring about social and political change. activism and advocacy are similar in nature (Steele, 2016). Often, activism takes place in waves online. 

So, let's talk about two feminist hashtags that took over Twitter to bring about social and policitcal change. 

• #RedMyLips

This hashtag is named after a campaign that was started Danielle Tansino in 2012. She started this hashtag movement after she was sexually assaulted while she was drunk. Her case was never taken to court because she was told that "jurors don't like drunk girls". This campaign became an outlet for survivors that are blamed for their sexual assault. Assault is NEVER the victim's fault. 

I felt this was appropriate to touch on since April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. 

To view the campaign's website, click here.

• #FreeTheFive

This campaign swept social media after 5 Chinese girls that protested domestic violence in blood spattered wedding gowns were arrested in 2015. Their arrest soon led to outrage all over the world, and even led to grassroots protests. 

A feminist Chinese blogger even told the New York Times: "I think we can call them the first modern, independent, feminist, grassroots actors in Chinese history," 

Here is some examples of Tweets: 

All they wanted to do was help women's rights on #IWD2015. Protest isn't a crime. #FreeTheFive 

http://amn.st/60144eGO

翌日の抗議活動の準備中。
香港から。
RT"@Anon_Snufkin: making preparations for tomorrow#FreeTheFive solidarity protest in #HongKong"

These are just two campaigns out of the many. To find more feminist online campaigns, click here. 

Other examples are #OlderWomenVoices, #RapeCultureIsWhen, and #EverydaySexism. 

Online activism is important for multiple groups. For feminists in particular, it gives them a platform to discuss and expose what women go through that the larger population may not even realize. In the #FreeTheFive example, it provided world solidarity for girls that were merely standing up against domestic abuse. 

In Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky, he says that the internet age has provided people with a way to easily gather for a cause. This is evident in the numerous Twitter campaigns that have taken place. However, Shirky also admits that though online activism gives groups a way to mobilize and say their opinion, people don't do anything about the causes in which they are fighting for. 

Now, I have heard this argument before. That all we do is tweet, but we don't actually do anything about it. I think people don't give online activism enough credit. There has been many instances when I found out about an issue merely from social media that I would have never seen on the news. 

All the things I have talked about before: power, stereotypes, privilege. These are things that are continuously exposed through social media. Can we do more that tweet? Of course. We can always do more. 

However, educating the masses and bringing attention to these social problems is a good first step. 

#FreeKesha-The Use of Twitter to Create Discussion and Sympathy

Recently, pop star Kesha took her producer Dr. Luke to trial with allegations that he was emotionally, verbally, and sexually abusive towards her while they worked together. Kesha, famous for her many hit singles, fought the good fight in a recent legal battle. Dr. Luke has worked with many other celebrities, and is responsible for a lot of pop hits that have come out over the years.

However, the judge did not rule in Kesha's favor, and ruled to have her keep her contact with Dr. Luke and Sony. Here is a picture of her reaction:

This decision erupted in a advocacy campaign on Twitter in which many other female celebrities showed their support for Kesha. Lady Gaga, Lorde, Miley Cyrus, and Kelly Clarkson were just a couple of celebrities that showed their support for Kesha, along with thousands of fans. The hashtag #freekesha was used. 

Here are a couple of examples of tweets supporting the singer: 

Lady Gaga wrote: “There are people all over the world who love you @KeshaRose. And I can say truly I am in awe of your bravery.” 

the fact that kesha has to choose to either freely make music or avoid the person who abused her is outrageous and degrading#freekesha

If you don't see why this Kesha issue is a big deal, you're part of the problem. This is exactly why I speak up the way I do#FreeKesha

Demi Lavato

#FreeKesha  this is only gonna make you stronger, you brave and beautiful girl. Prayers are with you@KeshaRose

This case tragically demonstrated how sexual assault cases are still handled horribly in the U.S, and showed a high profile case of the Justice System failing yet another survivor of abuse.

This case also displays that rape culture is still prominent in our patriarchal society, a society in which, in this case, privilege allowed for excuses and deniability. 

The hashtag feature like this has been used to call attention and create discourse for countless other social problems as well. Sarah Florini has studied how "Black Twitter" often uses hashtags to "signify" and call out in justices on Twitter. Examples of these include #staymadAbby and #ferguson. 

The hashtag feature is extremely important in creating a dialogue on social media. Social media affords the multicultural public a platform in which to show their thoughts on an issue. Twitter is a powerful tool, because it has 560 million active users that tweet 5,700 tweets a second (Steele, 2016). 

Over the years, I have witnessed great uses of social media to call out on issue. I have even participated in a couple myself, feeling as if I have a way to actually get out my frustrations. This is what makes social media so important. It offers us a way to engage in the problems we see fit. 

Dove and Advertising

I usually never watch ads when I am on Youtube. However, when a Dove commercial comes on, I be sure to watch it the whole way through. This is because Dove is absolutely brilliant when appealing to women and gender issues.

Whenever I see a Dove commercial, I immediately want to go out and buy every Dove product I can get my hands on. As a young woman, I think Dove knows how to appeal to an audience that uses their product the most: women. I know this because they appeal to me, and are some of the best advertising I have seen

What exactly is advertising? It is a from of media with a goal of selling and consumption of products. (Wilson, Marketing and Advertising).

Dove commercials evaluate beauty norms and what it means to be beautiful. Dove is also the only company I have seen on television that discusses what it means to be a young girl or woman in our society.

In this commercial, women from all over the world choose whether or not to define themselves as average or beautiful by walking through two door ways. Most of the women start out walking through the Average door, and they talk about why they chose that, some saying that they didn't even have to hesitate. Another woman says that she didn't know if she chose Average because of what has been told to her, or what is constantly bombarded at her. Another women even says that beautiful is too far out of reach for her. As the commercial comes to a close, these woman start to make the choice to choose beautiful.

The commercial is called "Women from all over the world make a choice"

What I like most about this commercial is that not only does it represent real struggles of women, but women of many different cultures under one common problem: how women see ourselves.

In multicultural media, underrepresented groups connect more to brands that acknowledge their struggles in their advertising (Dr. Steele, 2016). This is one reason why Dove is brilliant, because it obviously knows what it is doing: appealing to women of all cultures and backgrounds, and acknowledging that we all face certain struggles as women.

Media scholars Blumler and Katz coined the uses and gratifications theory when it comes to media use. This theory suggests that we have an active role in seeking out media, and media that appeals to us emotionally, socially or psychologically. It also suggests that us as media user are goal-oriented (Dr. Steele, 2016). This fits in pretty well with Dove's advertising as well.

This commercial particularity appeals to me because it shows what women deal with socially and emotionally. Most women do struggle with the way we perceive ourselves, which is what this commercial is aiming at. Dove has many other commercials that will tug at your heart strings.

I think in a consumer driven world, it is nice to have commercials that make you think.

South Park-Society's Views on Sexual Crimes is Not "Niiiice."

I'm pretty sure I have loved South Park my whole life. No, really I have. The show has been on as long as I have been alive almost, and I remember when I was young laughing at it with my dad. 

However, as I grew up, South Park started to make a lot more sense to me. I started to actually get the joke. It became a space for me to laugh at all the things I found stupid in society, because that is what South Park does best.

 One thing about South Park is that they make fun of everything, and they don't hold back. 

Take this clip. I remember when I first saw this episode. It is an an episode about Ike, the main character Kyle's younger brother, who is having a sexual relationship with his female teacher. I remember this episode came out during a lot of high profile cases of teacher and student relationships were all over the media, because South Park tends to be pretty timely. The only one that cares about the fact that his brother is getting taken advantage of his Kyle. 

In this clip, Kyle attempts to go to the police to report the crime. The cops freak out when they think it is a guy teacher having sex with a girl, but when they find out it is the "hot kindergarten teacher" and the victim is a boy, they immediately don't care. They begin to play the crime off as a joke. 

This is of course outrageous. 

When I first saw this, I remember thinking "That is genius." South Park is obviously making fun of how society sees sexual assault when the perpetrator is a woman, and the victim is a male. Society's stigma on male sexual assault victims is often a negative one. 

This is what South Park does best. Sometimes it is overtly funny, while other times there is a deeper meaning to the joke. This make sit my favorite satire on television. What is satire? According to literarydevices.net, it is technique used by writers to show foolishness about an individual or society. 

There are two types of satire: horatian and juvenalian. Horatian satire is more gentle, while juvenalian is bitter, angry, and contempt (Steele, 2016). I would argue that South park is a juvenalian satire, because it often presents its arguments in very controversial ways. 

Satire employs four techniques to get its point across (Steele, 2016). These four techniques are: 

• Parody- to imitate certain aspects of person or society
• Reversal- to present the opposite of the normal order 
• Incongruity- present things that are out of touch with their surroundings 
• Exaggeration- to enlarge something enough so that its fault can be seen 

In this particular clip, I would argue that South Park used reversal and exaggeration to get their point across. That is because they put the cops in the opposite of how they should react to a crime, and make them act like complete idiots, basically. 

In this clip, South Park is following the "golden rule" of satire. What is the golden rule? Always "punch up" towards those people or ideas that hold power (Steele, 2016). In this case, they are punching up at a justice system and society that has certain schema about male sexual assault victims, and female perpetrators. 

I think South Park typically does a good job of pointing out faults in our society. Though sometimes they go too far, often they have something to take away from an episode. 

Deadpool is a Different Kind of Comic Hero, for Many Reasons

I have recently become a big fan of Deadpool. I got my first Deadpool comic book for Christmas this past year, and loved the movie that came out back in February. He is easily now in my top three Marvel hero favorites, along with Iron Man and Spider-Man, of course.

For those of you that don't know Deadpool, he is technically an anti-hero. He is a mercenary, often called "The Merc With the Mouth". He talks a lot, and works for money. He is also insane, but has his moments of clarity. He often switches sides, helps other heroes to do more good than bad. His most notable team-ups are withe The X-Men, Thor, Spider-Man, and Cable. Deadpool also frequently breaks the fourth wall. He knows he is in a comic book in the Marvel universe.

Deadpool's origin story is actually rather tragic. His childhood changes depending on what comic you read, but no version is a good one. As a young man, he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He leaves the love of his life. Vanessa, and becomes an experiment with Weapon X, the same people that made Wolverine, in hopes of getting a cure to his cancer. He goes through terrible torture that leaves him permanently scarred all over his body. After he is almost killed, his healing factor kicks in that makes him pretty much immortal, unable to be killed easily. There is of course more to the story. If you are interested google him, or read a comic, because they are pretty great.

Deadpool is fascinating for many reasons. He represents a lot of marginalized groups. What do I mean when I say marginalized groups? According to encylopedia.com, these are groups that are often pushed to the outside of society, and kept there.

Firstly he is disabled, both mentally and physically. Deadpool has tried to kill himself many times in the comics, yet his healing factor always brings him back. He has severe PTSD, depression, and often talks to voices in his head in the comics, eluding to the fact that he is Schizophrenic. These voices often appear as Yellow or White boxes in the comics.



Physically, he is scarred and deformed, and even faces discrimination and bullying at times, something that many disabled people face.

 He also is the victim of rape at the hands of Typhoid Mary in his earlier comics. It is rather uncommon when light is shown on male victims or rape in general, even less so at the hands of a women. The fact that Marvel tackles tough issues such as sexual violence is important, because this shows that even heroes face the same problems many people do. For triggering purposes, I will not put up the comic strip that deal with Deadpool facing his assault. It's rather heartbreaking.

However, seeing that this is a blog about gender and sexuality, I'm going to talk about just that: Deadpool's sexuality. Deadpool has been confirmed Pansexual. What is pansexuality? It's the sexual, emotional, or romantic love towards those of any sex or gender identity, according to stophomophobia.com On top of the marginalized groups that he can relate to before, this is another one.

Deadpool has never had any romantic relationships with anyone other than the opposite gender, but he often shows attraction towards other male heroes and pretty much anyone he finds attractive. Here is a couple comic strips detailing what I am talking about.

 

This is a real variant comic cover, by the way. 

There is a lot more where this came from. I guess what makes Deadpool's sexuality interesting is that he is in a typically hetero normative universe. Hetero normative societies promote heterosexuality over other forms of sexual orientations. Let's face it, straight relationships and damsels in distress often make up the core of other heroes' stories. Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy anyone?

We have not seen a queer Marvel character come to the big screen until Deadpool. However, those that have only seen the movie may have not noticed his sexuality, and the movie has gotten a lot of negative flack for that. People obviously enjoy Marvel movies, but don't read comics. I would suggest that in the next Deadpool movie we see some evidence of Deadpool's sexuality in order to bring attention to this part of Deadpool that makes him different. Ryan Reynolds, mastermind behind the Deadpool movie, even said that he would like Deadpool to have a boyfriend in the second movie!

There are not a lot of queer characters in the Marvel universe, and the fact that he can appeal to so many different kinds of people is what makes him different. I think Marvel knows that it needs to do to appeal to more people, and this is a great way to do just that.

Long story short, Deadpool is the best.

The Most Powerful Women in Video Games

Today, I had the pleasure to attend a free lecture by Bonnie Ross. She is a video game leader of the popular franchise Halo, and the Corporate Vice President of 343 Industries and Microsoft Corporation.

This lecture was appealing to me for many reasons. Firstly, she graduated in my major. I admit I was interested in hearing her story. Secondly, the lecture interested me because she is a powerful women in a heavily male dominated industry.

The lecture was interesting for many reasons. One part that amazed me was when she compared graphics from Halo 2 to Halo 2: Anniversary. She explained how motion capture has made an awesome difference in the way graphics can be achieved, and how better graphics enhances storytelling. She also explained how user generated content and empowering the player has become an essential part of Halo.

However, the most important part to me was when she explained her challenges of being a women in the field. She had some statistics about women as well. 43% of people that play video games are female. Only 18% of women go into Computer Science or Information  Science. This is actually down from 35% in 1985.

Also, technology is a great background to have. By 2018, the U.S. will have 1.4 million new jobs in the tech field, and only 61% of those jobs will be filled.

Ross laid out three obstacles that can get in the way of women pursing technology degrees. These three obstacles are:

• Lack of Support
• Lack of Exposure
• Lack of Understanding 

She explained how these obstacles played a part in her life. She didn't have a problem with lack of exposure. She started off as a Engineering major, and had full support of her father who was also an engineer. She soon found it hard in a male dominated major to find people to study with, except for the one other girl student that she knew. That is where lack of support came in. Lack of understanding followed when she couldn't figure out what to do with an engineering major, so she switched to Technical Communication. She stared off with an internship at IBM, and worked her way to where she is today. She also discussed how hard it was beginning at Microsoft as a women, but how he liking of sports helped her bond with her male coworkers.

I felt elated after hearing her talk, mostly for selfish reasons. I often feel behind in my major. I didn't have a computer until I was 14, so the technical parts of my major often make me feel very intimidated. However, after hearing her talk I feel more confident than ever.

Also, the fact that she is a woman that has accomplished so much was very inspiring. I think this is more so because she climbed her way to the top in a very male dominated business, and that is an accomplishment worthy of taking notice.

I feel that in a patriarchal society, or a male-dominated society, young girls are often denied the privilege of being told we can be scientists, doctors, and engineers. I know I was never told I could be these things, but I should be a teacher or a nurse instead. I know if I ever have a daughter, I will be sure to tell her she can be anything. 

Now I think I'll go play some Halo.

The Media's Use of the Oppression of Women to Perpetuate Hatred of Islam and Fear of Sharia Law

One thing I have noticed over the years is the news media's love of using the oppression of women in Islamic countries to perpetuate an anti-Islam agenda. If you don't know what an agenda is, it is the media's ability to influence the way the public views an issue.

There is no doubt that women in certain regions of the world face terrible odds compared to their male counterparts. I know that I am very lucky to live in a country where I as a female can have access to education and many other rights.

However, people love to use the oppression of women in Islamic countries to hate Islam as a whole, and perpetuate the idea that everyone should hate Islam too.

Recently, I watched a CNN special called Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door. The special focuses on conflict that arises in a small Tennessee town over the proposed building of an Islamic community center and mosque. No surprise, the oppression of women is used as an excuse to lead a force against the Muslims in this town. To see the part in which I am talking about, skip to 31:25 in the video.

I have seen this as well in the news media, which has really never been kind on reporting on Islams or Muslims in general. However, oppression of women is constantly used to perpetuate fear of a religion and Sharia law.

What is Sharia Law? It is a system of laws that govern civil and criminal law based on the Quran, according to duhaime.org Legal Dictionary.

Take this Hannity panel on Fox News. On this panel, five men debate on whether or not Islam is truly a religion of peace. Eventually, Hannity mentions the oppression and abuse of women in countries under Sharia Law, saying that Christians have never interpreted the Bible so literally as to kill and abuse women and gays.

To view it click here.

Eventually, Hannity asks "Is Sharia often used to oppress women and minorities?" One member of the panel comes back that it depends on the place and interpretation, which is also what the expert in the CNN special I mentioned above says as well. Some Sharia Law is interpreted as progressive towards woman, others are not. It is interpreted differently depending on where you are at.

I guess my problem with the news media is they love to throw around "Islam" and "Muslims" like everyone under this group is the same. Islam is one of the big three religions with millions of followers around the world. Literally anyone can follow Islam.

Researchers Omi and Winant coined the term Respectable Racism when referring to Arabs and Muslims on T.V, and found certain themes are associated with this group on T.V. One of these themes is an "Us. versus Them" narrative, which is often present in news media. Often, it is Americans versus Islam or Muslims. The term Muslim is also conflated to fit this narrative, though as I mentioned before anyone can be Muslim.

Do women in the certain areas of the Middle East face oppression? Of course. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive or leave their houses without male supervision. However, that is Saudi Arabia, one country among many that have large Muslim populations. That doesn't mean we should use that as an excuse to hate a religion.

Not all Muslim women are oppressed, and Sharia Law is different for everyone in different places. Women historically and now face terrible odds all over the world under many religions, not just Islam. Instead of looking at it as a religious issue, we should look at it as a human rights and gender equality issue.

The point is every religion has its extremists that take holy books too seriously.It's when we get the idea to put every person that belongs to that religion under one umbrella, and attach a stereotype to them, that it becomes problematic.

I found this video interesting as well. In it, a Muslim community leader replies to a Bill O' Reilly segment on the issue. In it, the community leader explains passages from the Quran and how every religion has its extremists when it comes to women.

Take a look: