Has feminism “gone too far?” A mixed-methods exploration of perceptions of digital feminist activism

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study is the first to take a social psychological approach to understanding willingness to engage with digital feminist activism (DFA), providing the necessary context scholars need to explore and offer suggestions to promote engagement with digital feminist movements. In this mixed-methods study, a convenience sample of adult men and women who use social media in the U.S. (n = 705, 19–83 years old) were recruited for participation in a digital survey. Volunteers from this sample (n = 15, 23–66 years old) subsequently participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews via Zoom. Quantitative insights indicate higher support for feminism and higher feminist-identifying social networks are associated with personal feminist identification. Higher personal feminist identification and feminine gender identity (among both men and women) are associated with willingness to participate in DFA. Qualitative insights deepen these findings, exploring the complexity of understandings of feminism, conceptualizations of “feminism” and “feminists,” gender identities, and social network pressure that may contribute to avoidance of digital feminist [and other social] activism.