Networked feminism
Networked feminism is a phenomenon that can be described as the online mobilization and coordination of feminists in response to sexist, misogynistic, racist, and other discriminatory acts against minority groups. This phenomenon covers all possible definitions of what feminist movements may entail, as there have been multiple waves of feminist movements and there is no central authority to control what the term "feminism" claims to be. While one may hold a different opinion from another on the definition of "feminism", all those who believe in these movements and ideologies share the same goal of dismantling the current patriarchal social structure, where men hold primary power and higher social privileges above all others.
Networked feminism is not spearheaded by one singular women's group. Rather, it is the manifestation of feminists' ability to leverage the internet to make traditionally unrepresented voices and viewpoints heard. Networked feminism occurs when social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr are used as a catalyst in the promotion of feminist equality and in response to sexism. Users of these social media websites promote the advancement of feminism using tools such as viral Facebook groups and hashtags. These tools are used to push gender equality and call attention to those promoting anything otherwise. Online feminist work is a new engine of contemporary feminism. With the possibility of connecting and communicating all around the world through the Internet, no other form of activism in history has brought together and empowered so many people to take action on a singular issue.
Background
The mass convergence of feminists occurred as a result of a spike in the advancement of Internet usage and social media websites. Networked feminism is a part of the contemporary feminist community whose interests revolve around cyberspace, the Internet, and technology. This feminist community makes up the movement known as cyberfeminism. The beginnings of "online feminism were primarily in the form of online journals, websites, and blogs, developed in response to the need for a public platform where young women could voice their opinions about the state of the world around them". Women and men began creating spaces for themselves to voice out their opinions to create a public awareness of gender and race inequalities. As technology evolved, communication through the internet became more accessible. Nowadays, anyone who has access to the Internet has the capability to voice out their opinions across the globe. Web-based tools and platforms evolved to support the need of communication through the internet like YouTube, which allows for vlogging, or "video blogging". Social media blogging platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram also allow for easier and more immediate sharing capabilities. Facebook is another, considered one of the largest social media platforms of communication, allowing many to use their 'profiles' and opinion dedicated 'groups' to voice their opinions around the world. The creation of these websites have allowed for feminists to take part in social media and other virtual coalitions that combat sexism, making way for networked feminism on a large scale.These coalitions have resulted in increased vocabulary and awareness about gender in the United States' national media dialogue. According to a Score Media Metrix study in 2008, community-based women's websites were one of the fastest growing websites that year. Indeed, "the strongest flavor of networked activism today is deeply feminist. There is a tenacious, super-wired coalition of active feminists prepared at a moment's notice to blow the lid off sexist attacks or regressive health policy." Feminist blogs have thus provided a much needed service in keeping feminist issues at the forefront of the national and international discussion. Social media has seemingly helped render the present day as an opportune moment for women's activism and women's involvement in national politics. As famous feminist, writer and activist bell hooks notes, "Collaborating with diverse thinkers to work toward a greater understanding of the dynamics of race, gender, and class is essential for those of us who want to move beyond one dimensional ways of thinking, being, and living”.
Social media
The use of hashtags has become an extremely important factor in the advancement of networked feminism and most all social media activist groups. The use of hashtags provides a means of grouping such messages, since one can search for the hashtag and get the set of messages that contain it. First appearing on the social media platform, Twitter, "the platform provides a search function where users can search keywords hashtags." Since the creation of Twitter, the hashtag has spread onto other forms of social media like Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and Instagram. Feminist Internet users who participate in the virtual mass convergence of networked feminism use hashtags to form organized Internet groups that share the same hyperlink hashtag. In the case of feminist movements, groups are used to advance an idea or coalition against sexism and the dismantling of the patriarchal system. This activism using tools found on the Internet, particularly the tool of the hashtag, is now called hashtag activism.Social media mega website, Facebook, allows users to interact through friend requests, networks, and groups. A group on Facebook is created to represent anything from a common interest that people share all the way to a coalition that people associate themselves with. In the case of networked feminism, Facebook groups have played an important role in discussing issues and creating bonds against or for a certain topic that revolves around sexism or, on the other hand, the advancement of feminism. Individuals have used these groups, along with other forms of social media and interconnectedness, such as email lists, blogs, YouTube videos, reddit threads, to create forums where feminists can virtually congregate. These forums created an open gateway for the mass virtual convergence that is networked feminism.
Examples
Through the lightning fast connectivity that is now available through the Internet, communicating ideas like feminist movements has brought about large opportunities to face larger public figures and corporations that hold or have held discriminatory acts against minority groups. More prominent feminist bloggers Vanessa Valenti and Courtney E. Martin have said in their 2012 report Online Revolution that, "Contrary to media depictions of online activity as largely narcissistic and/or 'slactivism,' young women across the country—and all over the world, in fact—are discovering new ways to leverage the Internet to make fundamental progress in the unfinished revolution of feminism."Body Peace Treaty with ''Seventeen'' magazine
Fourteen-year-old Julia Bluhm from Waterville, Maine, started a protest on Change.org with the petition name "Seventeen Magazine: Give Girls Images of Real Girls". This protest requested that Seventeen magazine would print one unaltered photo spread per month. Activists, many of whom were teenage girls, demanded that Seventeen magazine stop using Photoshopped and altered images of women and girls, arguing that these images can lead to unrealistic body ideals and subjected many girls to developing extreme dieting, eating disorders, depression and low self-esteem. The online petition created by Bluhm gathered over 80,000 signatures, bolstered by postings on Twitter and Facebook garnered intense media coverage. Protesters as well gathered outside of Seventeen magazine's New York Offices by holding a mock photo shoot to honor what real girls look like.In May 2012, Bluhm, her mother and a group of other teen girls delivered the petition and its 80,000 plus signatures to the Seventeen magazine headquarters in New York City. After the presentation, editor in chief Ann Shoket made the announcement in her editor's letter in the August issue of 2012 that Seventeen magazine had vowed to "celebrate every kind of beauty" and feature "real girls and models who are healthy. Shoket's editor's letter was presented as a "Body Peace Treaty", promising to "never change girl's body or faces shapes" when retouching images. This Seventeen magazine protest reached a far greater number of people through the internet, undoubtedly raising the unconsciousness of thousands, most of whom never set foot in New York.
Rush Limbaugh's social media defeat
, a then 30-year-old law student at Georgetown University spoke in front of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee regarding the new Administration rules on Conscience Clause exceptions in health care. In her speech, Fluke discussed the reasons that her educational institution, a Catholic university, should offer contraceptives without any co-pay. She then went on to say that 40% of Georgetown Law School's female population suffered financial hardship as a result of birth control not being covered by the student health insurance plan.In response to Flukes' testimony, Rush Limbaugh made some controversial remarks regarding Fluke. On February 29, 2012, Limbaugh was recorded on his talk show calling Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" as a result of her speech.
Immediately after Limbaugh's comments went public on his radio show, Limbaugh was criticized by feminists on social media. Internet users created Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags that demanded action be taken against Limbaugh and that he be reprimanded. These Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags directly targeted the barter ads that aired commercials during Limbaugh's radio show. As a result of the massive virtual feminist coalition against Limbaugh, Premiere Networks, the radio group that syndicates The Rush Limbaugh Show, pulled all of its barter ads from the group's affiliated stations from March 12, 2012, through March 23, 2012. Even further, the Internet network created against Limbaugh was so great that it sparked President Obama to express his opinion on Limbaugh's comments, deeming them to be "inappropriate".
After the loss of many of his advertisers, along with the desolation of his reputation via social media, Limbaugh issued an apology to Fluke, stating that he "chose the wrong words" and he "did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke".
The actions taken against Limbaugh by his advertisers were a direct result of the feminist network that created a coalition against his sexist actions.