How Social Media Interacts with Feminism
Introduction: The usage of social media platforms has both helped and harmed modern day feminism. With the utilization of algorithms, echo chambers, the filter and refilter system, blogs/vlogs, and other such platforms, it is good and bad in many differing ways. This section seeks to explore the complex new world of social media and how it interacts with feminism. This is relevant to the umbrella topic because social media is a distinct cornerstone of the digital world and it too can be a double edged sword. It is necessary to recognize that social media falls under the broad category of the internet, but also essential to discuss what makes social media such a unique universe. Firstly, social media allows for a person to person connection, usually stranger to stranger, but it also allows for a person to platform connection. This is one of the advantages of social media, it provides a platform for anyone to speak, promoting diversity of opinion and diversity of voice. A characteristic that is essential in an intersectional world. However, this is also a disadvantage because it (social media) provides a platform for anyone to speak which can promote hate and misinformation. Secondly, social media platforms' usage of algorithms create an echo chamber of content which not only can further promote hate, but it perpetuates the extreme social and political polarization facing society today.
White Feminism: A Definition - White feminism is a type of feminism that focuses primarily on white women’s issues and has a reputation for ignoring women of color and their issues, as well as ignoring the racism, homophobia, and classism in the feminist movement. It is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ feminism, where upper-middle-class white women are the mold that all other women must fit, completely ignoring the necessary inclusion of intersectionality in any movement. The white feminist ideology is one of equality, but in actuality, it promotes the marginalization of women of color. [1] White feminism is an ingrained thought process that is part of a larger, systematic problem, and because of this it can be difficult to recognize. This social phenomenon has been an ever present and pressing issue both then and now. Today, it has simply shifted it’s form. From being booted out to brushed under the rug.
1. Dumont, Katana Katana. “Embracing the Power of Intersectionality: How White Feminism Oppresses Black Women.” Blood & Milk, July 31, 2020. https://www.bloodandmilk.com/embracing-the-power-of-intersectionality-how-white-feminism-oppresses-black-women-2/.