Our Digital World: A Janus-Faced Platform For Feminism
Roman deity Janus, who had two faces, one looking foreward, and the other looking backward. Similar to having contrasting aspects, and being duplicitous, and two faced.
"Years from now, historians are likely to identify the rise of the internet as a profound moment of change in our culture.” Rachel F. Siedman makes this insightful statement in her book ‘Speaking of Feminism: Today’s Activists on the Past, Present, and Future of the U.S Women’s Movement.’ Even though there has always been a way for news and messages to spread around in a population, and for people to talk with their fellow peers, such as through newspapers and letters, the creation of the internet and the various platforms of social media cannot be compared to anything that has come before. Hundreds of messages can be shared to thousands of people in just a few minutes, and a simple click can allow you to connect and talk with people even on the other side of the planet for hours. The expansion of the internet and media in the past 10 years has allowed not only a change in our culture, but also in the type of world we live in--now known as a digital world. A digital world where news and messages are spread online through social media posts and published articles, and issues and movements are addressed in a public manner for the entire world to easily see, learn from, and critique.
One of the many movements that has benefited from our digital world this way is the feminist movement. Rachel F. Seidman defines feminism through the view or perspective that all feminists share: ‘the fundamental belief that women still face barriers and challenges based on their gender and that laws, policies, attitudes, and behaviors need to change in order for society to reach the goal of gender equity.’ Feminists with this belief are committed to working towards that goal, and the internet and media has certainly provided a vehicle for this work. Personal experiences of sexism and often hidden systemic gender inequalities/oppression can be written about and ‘exposed’ online, where people can quickly become educated on these issues. This allows for an increased awareness which creates great potential for collective action, fighting for real change in policies and solutions for these feminist issues. The internet and social media has also been helping in other ways too, where feminists and women now have a platform to express themselves in various ways, and gather online support in breaking down previous barriers and constrictions concerning their being or lifestyle.
However, this digital world that we live in, one that empowers women and is advancing the feminist movement in multiple ways, is not exactly how it seems. In other words, this platform of the digital world is actually two-faced, and the other ‘face’ actually disables women, and is pushing back a lot of the feminist progress and gains of the movement in many ways. This other face of the digital world in regards to feminism is often hidden, and goes unnoticed. Therefore, this exhibit will look into the two-faced, or Janus-faced, platform of our digital world and explore 5 case studies, each of an aspect of the internet that has the potential to empower women and advance the feminist movement. However, these very cases may also be preventing true empowerment and is holding back the feminist movement from actually progressing towards the goal of full gender equality.
The first case study will look into how the internet and social media has allowed women to better communicate with other activist, but it will also explore how female journalists are disproportionately targeted by online vitriol and violence compared to their male counterparts, whether they identify as feminist activists or not. This case will focus on the online, internet, and social media based harassment that female journalists, feminist activists, and women experience--an aspect of the digital world that is disabling women and feminists.
The second case study will look into how the internet has greatly expanded the scope of services provided by sex workers. Even though this aspect of the digital world, online sex work, is significantly safer than offline sex work, all forms of sex work come with risks. This case will explore the diverse experiences of online sex workers and the varying and conflicting attitudes of sex workers and feminists regarding sex work in the digital world, and how these conflicts may impact the feminist movement.
The third case study will be looking into the impact of celebrities, a popular aspect of the digital world because their voices and actions are constantly spread throughout the internet and social media. Celebrity involvement with the feminist movement is helpful for gaining more public interest and knowledge about the movement, which opens up opportunities for more collective action against gender inequality issues in the near future. However, celebrity feminists also may be diminishing the feminism movement because the form of ‘feminism’ they espouse is a watered down, neoliberal version that is hindering the progression of the feminist movement.
The fourth case study will look into the rise and usage of social media platforms, and how this aspect of the digital world has both helped and harmed modern feminism. The utilization of algorithms, blogs and vlogs, the filter and refilter system, and such other social media platforms can be both good and bad in differing ways. This case ultimately seeks to examine the complex new world of social media and how it interacts both positively and negatively with feminism, and will delve into how this phenomenon is exemplified via the exploration of how white feminism and it’s ever present problems has shifted to social media.
The fifth and final case study will look at the rise of the internet/media originated ‘slang’ or terms and nicknames given to feminist activists and people who support the feminism movement, such as ‘SJWs’ and ‘snowflake’. This case will focus on the linguistic aspect of these terms and the timeline of how these terms came to be used on the internet, and also how these terms have perpetuated backlash against the feminism movement and women in general.
A Little More On Feminism
To understand how our digital world is Janus-faced for feminism, it's important to first understand what feminism actually means and entails. One of the definitions of what feminism is actually about was already given above by Rachel F. Seidman: "the fundamental belief that women still face barriers and challenges based on their gender and that laws, policies, attitudes, and behaviors need to change in order for society to reach the goal of gender equity." While there has been many other definitions of feminism and a feminist, the definition has not changed much since the first time it appeared in a book review in 1895: a feminist is someone who "has in her the capacity of fighting her way back to independence ." [1] Susan Faludi, in her book 'Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women', also wrote something similar. She stated that feminism's agenda is basic: "it asks that women be free to define themselves instead of having their identity defined for them, time and time again, by their culture and their men." Faludi also mentions that feminism asks the world to acknowledge the fact that women are more than half of the population, and they deserve the same exact rights and oppurtunities as the other half, including being able to participate in the world's events. [2]
From all of these definitions, it is important to conclude that anything that furthers or helps the feminism movement is anything that allows and helps in gaining the independence and rights of women. Contrastingly, anything that damages or harms the feminism movement is anything that prevents gender equality and plays a role in taking away any social or political rights of women.
1. Rachel Filene Seidman, Speaking of Feminism Today’s Activists on the Past, Present, and Future of the U.S Women’s Movement (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina University Press, 2019).
2. Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, (Crown Publishing Group,1991) xxiii.