The symbolic violence of digital (anti-)feminist activism

Abstract

Addressing the broader issue of why women engage in their own subjugation by rejecting feminism, in this chapter we focus specifically on the role of social media given a fourth wave of feminism sparked by the proliferation of digital feminist activism and resultant anti-feminist reactionism. We analyse a platform at the genesis of this type of activism, the 2012 Tumblr page ‘Who Needs Feminism?’, and its reactionary counterpart, the 2013 Tumblr page ‘Women Against Feminism’. Our analysis, informed by a feminist reading of Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power, demonstrates how online feminist activism is shaped by digital platforms that foster affective, ephemeral, abridged posts centred on individual experience. Support for or rejection of feminism is thereby framed around the individual, on these sites exemplified by three contestations: a desire for agency; embodied habitus; and traditional ideals. The privileging of agency in relation to ideas and thoughts about feminism and gendered experiences, predicated by the materiality of digital spaces such as Tumblr, we argue weakens the efficacy of feminist activism and therefore structural change. In working towards gender equality and strengthening feminist modes of resistance, we conclude that digital platforms must be reconfigured to prioritise unifying action over individual recognition.