Speaking ‘unspeakable things’: documenting digital feminist responses to rape culture

Jessalynn Keller,Kaitlynn Mendes,Jessica Ringrose

doi:10.1080/09589236.2016.1211511

Jessalynn Keller, Kaitlynn Mendes + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2016.1211511

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Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which girls and women are using digital media platforms to challenge the rape culture they experience in their everyday lives; including street harassment, sexual assault, and the policing of the body and clothing in school settings. Focusing on three international cases, including the anti-street harassment site Hollaback!, the hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported, and interviews with teenage Twitter activists, the paper asks: What experiences of harassment, misogyny and rape culture are girls and women responding to? How are girls and women using digital media technologies to document experiences of sexual violence, harassment, and sexism? And, why are girls and women choosing to mobilize digital media technologies in such a way? Employing an approach that includes ethnographic methods such as semi-structured interviews, content analysis, discursive textual analysis, and affect theories, we detail a range of ways that women and girls are using social media platforms to speak about, and thus make visible, experiences of rape culture. We argue that this digital mediation enables new connections previously unavailable to girls and women, allowing them to redraw the boundaries between themselves and others.

Highlights

In her 2014 book, Unspeakable things: sex, lies, and revolution, feminist journalist Laurie Penny writes about those ‘unspeakable things’ that have long escaped mention in popular media cultures: sexual violence, male privilege and the wreck of neoliberalism – especially their effects on girls and women
Penny is only one of the more visible faces speaking about such issues: over the past few years girls and women have been increasingly engaged with feminist critique and activism, often using digital media technologies to speak out against misogyny, rape culture and everyday sexism
In this paper we explore and analyze these digital practices, drawing on data from a larger study, ‘Documenting Digital Feminist Activism’.i The project aims to map the ways in which girls and women are exposing and challenging various forms of misogyny using digital media technologies, including social media platforms, mobile technologies and location-based media across six international case studies

Summary

Introduction

In her 2014 book, Unspeakable things: sex, lies, and revolution, feminist journalist Laurie Penny writes about those ‘unspeakable things’ that have long escaped mention in popular media cultures: sexual violence, male privilege and the wreck of neoliberalism – especially their effects on girls and women. We focus on data from three of our case studies: (1) Posts to the online anti-street harassment website Hollaback!; (2) Experiences of using the Twitter hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported; and (3) Teen feminists’ use of social media platforms to challenge rape culture in and around schools. These case studies were selected because they fill a particular gap in knowledge about the variety of activist practices, routines, and experiences of feminists who use social media to challenge sexism, misogyny and rape culture. We are keen to explore the affective experiences of girls and women posting, and consuming, this type of social media, thereby asking: What experiences of harassment, misogyny and rape culture are girls and women responding to? How are girls and women using digital media technologies to document experiences of sexual violence, harassment, and sexism? And, why are girls and women choosing to mobilize digital media technologies in such a way?

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