Feminisms and social networks: love-hate?

Between feminisms and social networks, it is “a love story that opens up all possibilities, a story of saved lives, but also a story of hate” which is written. In any case, this is what she thinks in her book Elvire Duvelle-Charles, the creator of the Instagram account @clitrevolution Feminism and social networks released this year (out of range).

We remember the beginnings of feminism in the social network version, the Tumblr account “Pay your shneck” for example, who collected testimonies of street harassment. On Instagram, where cyber-feminists have since moved, many accounts related to sexuality and / or sex education have emerged: @jouissanceclub, @mercibeaucul_ or even @jemenbatsleclito.

All these cyber-activists have contributed to making feminist ideas visible, allowing many people to recognize themselves in the testimonies of other women and thus making sometimes complex concepts accessible and playful.

Elvire Duvelle-Charles was one of the first French women to join the Femen movement, in which she campaigned for several years. At the end of 2017 you created the Instagram account @clitrevolution, followed today by over 124,000 subscribers.

feminist niche

During the interview she gave us, Elvire Duvelle-Charles nuanced the importance of feminism on the networks and its influence on society: “These are algorithmic bubbles, as feminists we are pushed towards content similar to what we already consume, which makes it seem like this content is everywhere, but it remains a niche.”. Above all, she insists on the violence with which creative women often confront.

The observation is shared by Josiane Jouët, researcher and professor at Paris II, in her book Digital, feminism and society (Presses des Mines, 2022):

“The visibility of feminists on the web collides with the increase in online hatred; fighting against any patriarchal domination, feminists are the target of misogynists and conservative currents. “

Josiane Jouet.

And all the content creators really complain about the cyber harassment they suffer, the sexist insults, the threats of rape and more. dickpics they receive.

But the misogynistic violence that cyber-feminists are likely to suffer does not come from a few isolated individuals. It can also take the form of censorship, implemented directly by the platforms themselves. In 2019, around 30 accounts related to sex education or feminism were censored by Instagram. Elvire Duvelle-Charles then realizes this ” [son] work e [ses] spaces for discussion are hanging by a thread “.

On the Internet, conflicts of ideas become real targeted harassment campaigns

Feminism 2.0 has unfortunately also given rise to another type of violence. What Josiane Jouët and Elvire Duvelle-Charles observe is that the networks have amplified the conflicts between activists, they have made them more violent.

To understand this phenomenon, Elvire Duvelle-Charles explains:

“There are two types of possible trajectories, on social media. There are people like me, who started out as street activists and who have used networks as a tool to give visibility to their actions. And there are people in whom #MeToo and the wave of online investments by feminists have given birth to a vocation, and who have started online, without going through the field. It’s a noticeable difference, because the most vocal are often the ones who don’t really have experience with offline collectives. “

Elvire Duvelle-Charles.

Because conflicts, of course, have always existed in militant circles, but they have been managed and moderated by collectives. On the Internet, exchanges are more easily dehumanized and conflicts of ideas sometimes turn into real targeted harassment campaigns.

Despite these mixed results, Elvire Duvelle-Charles insists: “My intention is not to say that we must stop campaigning on the networks, but that we must not only invest in this field; we must also invest in culture, training, research “.

A bit of feminism on the networks, therefore, for the visibility and democratization they allow, and a lot in the field, in associations and collectives. Because in this field, as in others, networks are certainly useful, but life is elsewhere …

Cover photo: Unsplash / Solen Feyissa