Australian Feminist Approaches to Mass Awareness Campaigns: Celanthropy, Celebrity Feminism and Online Activism

Abstract

This research asks which methods can successfully promote mainstream recognition for an issue, and if the success of such methods translates to a stronger feminist movement in Australia in the twenty-first century Western zeitgeist. These questions are important because broader-scale feminist consciousness-raising is critical at a time when the dominant discourses of neoliberalism and postfeminism often mean a reduced focus on collective campaigning for issues such as the awareness of gender-based violence, and there has arguably been an evacuation of substantive feminist politics in some areas. My original contribution lies in the testing and analysis of campaign methods and pathways for the information of Australian feminists who want to take women’s rights issues to more central mainstream spaces in feminist mass awareness campaigning. This research explores the deployment of what I call the twenty-first century’s ‘Tools of the Zeitgeist’. This thesis focuses on three current mainstream Tools of the Zeitgeist: celebrity philanthropy and activism; celebrity feminists; and mainstream, online and social media activism. This research is unique because the discussion revolves around these three areas for feminist activism, which I argue would be most beneficial when used in tandem because they are often utilised in other social movements’ mass awareness campaigns (e.g., poverty or environment) and are rarely deployed in unison in organised feminist mass awareness campaigning. This thesis argues that there is an increased velocity in the Australian mediasphere of feminist discourse and engagement, and as such, it recognises that this is a critical nexus for the potential for a larger scale feminist-led mass awareness campaigning in Australia.