Abstract
The fast-growing social media in Indonesia has opened up opportunities for spreading feminist ideas to a wider and more diverse audience. Various social media accounts especially Instagram that focus on gender advocacy and feminism such as @indonesiafeminis, @lawanpatriarki, and @feminismanis have developed in Indonesia. However, the development of the social media platform also presents groups that oppose feminists. One of the accounts of women’s groups that oppose feminists is @indonesiatanpafeminis.id (@indonesiawithoutfeminist.id). The research objectives are namely to analyze the diversity of issues and reveal the discourse contestation that developed in the @indonesiatanpafeminis.id, and dynamic relationships on the online and offline spaces between groups of feminists and anti-feminists or the other interest. This research employed the digital ethnography method that utilized observation, interview, and literature study as data collection techniques. This study found that the online conversations at @indonesiatanpafeminis.id revealed misconceptions on feminism from a group of women with a religious identity. Furthermore, the conversation also tends to strengthen patriarchal values with religious arguments that are gender-biased. However, the @indonesiatanpafeminis.id serves as a public space for open debates and education on feminist issues. The anti-feminist group behind the @indonesiatanpafeminis.id are women who identify themselves in a certain Muslim circle that has political, cultural, and religious agendas. One of the agendas is to influence the public to reject the Sexual Violence Eradication Bill. This study also noted the Muslim supporters of anti-feminism in Indonesia are less popular compared to progressive religious-based Muslim women organizations such as Aisyiyah (Muhammadiyah), Muslimat NU (Nahdlatul Ulama), and Rahima (Center for Education and Information on Islam and Women’s Rights). The study also evokes discussion on how the feminist and anti-feminist discourses can be utilized to criticize and develop the women’s movement or feminism in a multicultural context.
Highlights
The presence of the women’s movement on social media attracts attention, especially when the movement is against feminism that is trying to fight for women’s interests
This research focuses on activities in the digital space of @indonesiatanpafeminis.id (@indonesiawithoutfeminist.id) and various texts that are produced in the digital space from their activities or other digital activities linked to it
The researchers gather that the existence of social media plays an important role in creating a virtual discussion about feminism and anti-feminism, even for the users that are not familiar with these issues
Summary
The presence of the women’s movement on social media attracts attention, especially when the movement is against feminism that is trying to fight for women’s interests. This article will discuss social media and the @indonesiatanpafeminis.id (@indonesiawithoutfeminist.id) account that is managed by women but questions the existence of feminists in Indonesia. Digital media as interactive media allows a reciprocal flow of information that enables users to participate and modify the content of the information at once (Suri, 2019). Digital media currently has the potential to be used as a means of activism, including gender-based activism or the women’s movement. According to the data from We Are Social, the use of digital media in Indonesia is increasing, reaching 160 million users. There were 175.4 million internet users in January 2020, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year (Kepp, 2020)
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