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.
Users of these social media websites promote the advancement of feminism using tools such as viral Facebook groups and hashtags.
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.
Web-based tools and platforms evolved to support the need of communication through the internet like YouTube, which allows for vlogging, or "video blogging".
[8] 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.
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.
[1] 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”.
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.
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.
[12] The online petition created by Bluhm gathered over 80,000 signatures, bolstered by postings on Twitter and Facebook garnered intense media coverage.
[13] 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.
[12] 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.
Sandra Fluke, 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.
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.
These Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags directly targeted the barter ads that aired commercials during Limbaugh's radio show.
[17] 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.
In February 2012, the public was notified that breast cancer activist organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure had decided to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.
[22] Currently located on the notokay.ca page are various tools that individuals can use to bring about awareness for sexual assault such as profile pictures and descriptive and simple banners that can be used on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
[23] Originally created in 2006, the Me Too movement began to spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
[24] The initial viral breakout began in response to widespread exposure of accusations of predatory behavior by film magnate Harvey Weinstein,[25][26] but quickly involved others in Hollywood, the music industry, science, academia, and politics, and soon spread to many countries around the world.
[32] This view has become so prolific that many women and men now refuse to identify as such due to the negative stigma attached to the word, even if they are feminists or believe in equality across all groups of minorities.
[34] According to the 2002 Amsterdam Declaration of the World Humanist Congress, humanism, "affirms the worth, dignity, and autonomy of the individual" against religious and political dogmas.
[29] With the continual growth of misconceptions behind the goals of feminist movements, the connectivity of the Internet and social media platforms are commonly used as debate grounds over the truths or falsities behind this often misinterpreted ideology.
There is currently a plethora of websites that discuss the topic of antifeminism, using the hashtag of the famous social media campaign Women Against Feminism.
[39] Many bloggers and tweeters fear of publishing statuses and articles that address feminism as it is an ideological land mine that can trigger anyone that can glance at their work from their desktops at home to possibly lash out.
[39] Katherine Cross, a Puerto Rican transgender woman, has written that she "fears being cast suddenly as one of the 'bad guys' for being insufficiently radical, too nuanced or too forgiving, or for simply writing whose offensive dimensions would be unknown to me at the time of publication".