This special issue comes at an important time in
herstory (‘history’ for women) when a renewed vitality around women and
feminisms is evident in many places around the world. There is a real impetus
for change in women’s framings (and their acceptance) of gender based
expectations.
Feminism was the most looked up word in Merriam
Webster’s online dictionary in 2017, marking a large increase on previous years.
This is likely to
be linked to a number of high profile events occurring almost simultaneously
across parts of the globe, including widespread reporting
of sexual harassment and assault, the #MeToo campaign, and collective responses
to current ruling political ideologies (particularly in the US).
In the UK (where the Special issue idea originated on
International Women’s Day 2015), we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the
Representation of the People Act, which gave some women in the UK over 30 the
right to vote and paved the way for universal suffrage. Since then the right to
be heard has monumentally shifted. We
now live in a time where individual and collective voices ring out in global
virtual environments, across a proliferation of diverse social media platforms.
This Special Issue arose from discussions around a number of key instances
where women speaking out over social media were trolled in attempts to silence
them, and led to questions about the broader context of feminisms and social
media. We are thrilled that the papers published in this special issue highlight
the diversity of feminist engagements that are evident across social media as
well as the diversity of the people engaging, and the implications of these
activities.
Since the inception of the Special Issue, there has
been a groundswell of social media activity around a variety of topics
including the #MeToo hashtag. This is a movement
with a global audience, where initially celebrities shared stories of abuse using
social media, and built a sense of solidarity which was then taken up by many
users, celebrity and non-celebrity alike. Whilst both recognising the damage and identifying the problem, the
movement has not been without critics. Proponents point to the inclusivity of the movement and the way in which
it encourages voices to be heard. For
critics, it re-inscribes the work of naming back onto women and queries the
validity of unfettered and unchecked naming and shaming of perpetrators (see
@MeTooCenter for a sense of the argument). The sheer momentum of this movement, its possibility to engage and the
varied responses to it typifies the difficulties and nuances of social
media.
Social media can be a tool for enhancing literacy, a
force for change and a platform for violence and trolling. This Special Issue contains examples of all
of these competing and contradictory aspects of social media, setting them
against a backdrop of feminist scholarship and activism, drawing on articles
from different locations around the world. The issue contributes to a wider
dialogue of feminisms and social media occurring across many disciplinary
spaces that we look forward to watching develop further.
The authors are the editors of the Special Issue of
Feminism and Psychology on Feminisms and Social Media available here: http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/fapa/current
