Fighting against Patriarchy with Tweets and Hashtags: Social Media Activism of the Women's Movement and Reactionary Counterpublics

Abstract

This article critically examines social media activism of feminist organizations in Turkey to uncover the strategies and tactics that they deploy in order to mobilize, build networks within and beyond the women's movement, and repel online reactionary publics. It analyzes the use of the Twittersphere by the two leading women's platforms, We Will Stop Femicides (aka KCDP) and Equality for Women (aka EŞİK), in relation to the two important campaigns in recent decades: one about the prevention of femicides and the other on the implementation and, then, reinstatement of the Council of Europe Convention on Violence against Women. Based on in-depth interviews with activists and a quantitative content analysis of the Twitter timelines of the platforms, the authors ascertained five major strategies: insisting on a feminist lexicon; aligning with the ideologically like-minded organized social groups; soliciting support from politicians, celebrities, academics, and the media; forging local and international networks; and disregarding antigender, antifeminist reactive counterpublics and avoiding any direct confrontation with them.