Top Feminist Hashtags of 2014

This post originally appeared on December 10, 2014 written by Tara L. Conley. This is the second installment of ‘Top’ hashtag lists from Hashtag Feminism. This time it received national media attention, as founder Tara L. Conley co-wrote a companion piece with Elizabeth Plank for Mic.com.

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See Top Hashtags of 2014 INFOGRAPHIC.

Cross post at Mic.com.

Tara L. Conley, founder and publisher of Hashtag Feminism and Elizabeth Plank, senior editor at Mic collaborated to produce this year’s Top Feminist Hashtags of 2014. In 2013, Conley created the first “Top Feminist Hashtags” curation as a way to document stories and burgeoning conversations “dealing with race, gender, sexuality, economic justice, global citizenship” and at the time, Beyonce. This year, Conley and Plank curate and comment on the most widely recognized and transformative hashtags that locate stories about domestic violence, street harassment, women and feminists organizing Ferguson protests, global and national violence against Black girls and women, pro-choice legislation, media representations of women of color, and more.

Kim Kardashian may have tried to break the Internet this year, but it was female social media users who really crushed it in 2014. Despite being disproportionately at risk for abuse and harassment online, women proved the real power of social media this year, utilizing it for thoughtful conversations about inequality and social change. If we needed a sign feminism is reaching a turning point online, the runaway success of hashtags like #YesAllWomen is it.

Working with Tara L. Conley from Hashtag Feminism, Mic has ranked the year’s biggest feminist hashtag based on five not-so-scientific criteria: its trending power, either nationally or globally; its national online and/or independent news media attention; its sustainability; its impact on social, political and cultural issues offline; and its influence with notable Twitter users and thought leaders in social media and feminist spaces.

Here are the results:

#RenishaMcBride and #RememberRenisha

On Nov. 2, 2013, 19-year-old Renisha McBride was fatally shot in the face on the porch of Detroit homeowner Theodore Wafer. By the summer of 2014, #RenishaMcBride had transformed into#RememberRenisha, a tag spread widely by racial justice advocacy organization Color of Change. The transformation of this particular hashtag mirrors the evolution of the story, as advocates across the country moved away from simply naming the victim to claiming the young woman as part of their own communities. It also highlighted the way the lives of black women and girls are often downplayed, exploited or altogether ignored in mainstream media and other public discourses.

#YouOKSis

#YouOKSis first appeared on Twitter on June 7, 2014, as part of a conversation about street harassment and women of color between writers and activists @BlackGirlDanger and @FeministaJones. NewsOne produced a video featuring the creator of #YouOKSis, Feminista Jones, along with other black women talking about their experiences confronting street harassment in their communities. Although NewsOne’s video hasn’t received as much views and media attention as the viral Hollaback video, #YouOKSis has remained in the national spotlight because the stories located around the hashtag address the way women of color experience street harassment at the intersection of gender, sexuality, disability, culture and race, which some felt was missing in Hollaback’s video.

“It’s just a compliment” men’s sense of entitlement and inability to handle rejection. #YouOKSispic.twitter.com/EFIYSdO3vk — nobody (@afemal3pr) November 3, 2014

#YesAllWomen

After a man with a “smirky, grimace-y smile” murdered six people in Santa Barbara, Americans across the country attempted to comprehend what could motivate such hatred. That confusion turned to outrage, however, after police uncovered a 150-page manifesto exposing the perpetrator’s twisted misogynistic logic. #YesAllWomen, a direct response to the popular #NotAllMen meme used to derail conversations about gender discrimination, was started by Twitter user @Gildedspine. #YesAllWomen allowed women across the globe to air their grievances about the discrimination and abuse they experience daily. In 48 hours, the hashtag reached over 1 million tweets and continues to be a platform for important conversations about women and feminism.

Not ALL men harass women. But ALL women have, at some point, been harassed by men. Food for thought. #YesAllWomen — Adelaide Kane (@AdelaideKane) May 27, 2014

#AllMenCan

Although many men read, retweeted and supported the women airing their grievances on#YesAllWomen, gender inequality can’t be solved if only half the population is involved. Case in point, gendered violence and sexual assault are often talked about as “women’s issues,” when, in fact, the perpetrators of these crimes are far too often male. This article’s author created the hashtag #AllMenCan as a way for men to make their voices heard among those of so-called men’s rights activists, who were loudly defending the misogynistic mind-frame behind the Santa Barbara shooting. The result was an empowering collection of messages that proved all men can have respect for women without becoming less of a man.

#AllMenCan be masculine without misogyny, chivalrous without demeaning, and feminists without fear. Equality benefits us all. — Benjamin Curtis (@Clearcoat_Ben) May 29, 2014

#BringBackOurGirls

#BringBackOurGirls is one of the most widely recognized hashtags of the year. The origin story of this tag is also controversial. Although major news outlets initially reported that the hashtag was created in May of 2014 by Ramaa Mosley, an American soccer mom from southern California, the outlets largely ignored the Nigerian activists who were engaged in bringing about awareness both on and off Twitter. In fact, the hashtag first appeared on Twitter on April 23, 2014, when Ibrahim M. Abdullahi tweeted that Obiageli Ezekwesili had declared “Bring back our girls!” during an event in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. Ezekwesili tweeted the hashtag later that day. This controversy started an important conversation about Western sentimentality and reminded the Internet that it’s important to interrogate the origins of these types of global campaigns, especially when some organizations end up using them to try to raise money. But there is another fascinating aspect of this hashtag’s origin story: how verbal declarations offline can be documented and popularized on Twitter by way of a hashtag. This is culture at work.

#SurvivorPrivilege

Remember when George Will dared suggest that rape victims are privileged? That kind of misogynistic click-bait was no match for Wagatwe Wanjuki, a fierce advocate and rape survivor who created the #SurvivorPrivilege hashtag to “channel my anger and shock at the column and express myself in a productive way. I never thought that it would catch on or that it would resonate with so many people,” she told Mic. Designed to give women a space to repudiate what Wanjuki calls “one of the most odious rape myths,” the hashtag was a space where survivors and allies could speak out in solidarity.

#RapeCultureIsWhen

As Danielle Paradis wrote for Mic, “There’s nothing like calling a group of women hysterical to undermine their argument.” After a tone-deaf article written by Caroline Kitchens likened women exposing and fighting against rape culture to “censorship and hysteria,” Zerlina Maxwell couldn’t handle the blatant disregard for victims. As a rape survivor herself, she knew all too well just how pervasive rape culture is. “I look at many of the feminist-driven hashtags as a space for healing and consciousness-raising,” Maxwell told Mic. #RapeCultureIsWhen created a space for survivors to share their own stories about experiencing victim blaming, slut shaming and cyber-bullying, that are all markers of the American epidemic of rape culture. For Maxwell, the popularity of the hashtag became cathartic and showed the power of online mobilization. “Twitter is a tool. It’s the megaphone that everyday people can use to change the attitudes and behaviors that we deem so harmful and that are the hardest to change.”

#HobbyLobby

The biggest Supreme Court decision of the year was viewed by many as a major blow to women. After five male conservative justices ruled that corporations can have a religious personhood and that mandating companies to cover birth control as part of their insurance packages would be a violation of their religious freedom, many were gobsmacked. Birth control was singled out, unlike any other medication or benefit, and threatened for moral reasons in 2014. People on both sides of the debate used the hashtag to have a conversation about what this meant for the future of the country. Some tweets were funny, some were more solemn and others simply tried to make light of a very damaging verdict. Although Ruth Bader Ginsberg never used Twitter to let us know what she thought, judging by her scathing dissent going viral, we could imagine what was on her mind.

All of the people who voted in favour of #HobbyLobby have one thing in common and it’s not a vagina. #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/IG8vf93bm3 — Elizabeth Plank (@feministabulous) June 30, 2014

#WhyIStayed

When the NFL gave a measly two-game suspension to Baltimore Raven’s running back Ray Rice, for a violent domestic violence incidence caught on tape inside an elevator, it shocked even the league’s most loyal fans. NFL chairman Roger Goddell  gave the player an indefinite suspension (which was later appealed), but that didn’t stop many from criticizing the league for its mishandling of violent behavior against women. Members of the media and general public weren’t just scrutinizing the NFL, however, some blamed Ray Rice’s fiancee at the time, Janay Palmer, for staying with him after he knocked her unconscious. Survivors of abuse used Twitter to point out women who are abused are rarely in a position to leave. Beverly Gooden, the creator of the hashtag, told Mic back in September that the accusations left her with a deep sense of embarrassment — because this had happened to her, too. “When I saw those tweets, my first reaction was shame. The same shame that I felt back when I was in a violent marriage. It’s a sort of guilt that would make me crawl into a shell and remain silent. But today, for a reason I can’t explain, I’d had enough. I knew I had an answer to everyone’s question of why victims of violence stay. I can’t speak for Janay Rice, I can only speak for me.”

#NMOS14

Although social media has played a prominent role in the recent protests following the grand jury decisions in Ferguson and Staten Island, this certainly isn’t the first time we’ve ever seen this type of organizing via social media. The #NMOS14 (national moment of silence) was a tag and movement created during the summer of 2014 by writer and activist Feminista Jones. In the wake of the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, Jones and others used social and digital media to organize silent vigils to honor victims of police brutality around the country. #NMOS14 isn’t the first and only mass movement organized online. There are many others. Even before Twitter, women were organizing online around post-Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts using Yahoo! listservs, and young college students in 2007 organized on MySpace and Facebook during the Jena Six case.#NMOS14 proved to be one of the most successful online-to-offline organizing campaigns to date.

#DudesGreetingDudes

Perhaps one of the most brilliantly executed hashtags of the year, combining social commentary and humor, was #DudesGreetingDudes. The tag, created by Elon James White of This Week in Blackness, used satire to prove that catcalling isn’t simply a pleasant greeting from “dudes” but rather, and often a violation of personal space and form of sexual harassment. The tag essentially asks what happens when heterosexual cisgender men use commonly offensive catcalls toward other heterosexual cisgender men. The result is a hilarious yet poignant commentary on masculinity, gender expectations, norms and public space.

Dudes. If you feel society has lost it’s decency, let’s bring it back. Let’s start the #DudesGreetingDudes movement! Say hi to each other! — Elon James White (@elonjames) November 2, 2014

MediaWritesWOC#

#HowMediaWritesWOC is a relatively new hashtag created by @Chitaskforce in late November as a way to spark discussion around how media reports and frames violence against girls and women of color. The tag features notable educators, activists and feminists talking about the ways media fail to responsibly represent women of color overtime. How media frames women of color in the context of violent imagery is nothing new. If you’ve ever turned on a television, you’ll know that these sort of representations have perpetuated for decades. #HowMediaWritesWOC succeeds not only as an archive of commentary but also as a literacy tool for educators and students alike to elicit and engage in critical conversations.

Update: User @annicardi notes that she did not create the #YesAllWomen hashtag.

#YouOkSis Challenges Street Harassment, Starts a Movement

This post originally appeared on August 11, 2014 co-authored by Aisha Springer and Kelly Ehrenreich. It’s one of the first published posts documenting the impact of the #YouOkSis hashtag that sparked a movement bringing awareness to street harassment faced by women of color.

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Last week, two major media outlets – Huffington Post and Buzzfeed – tweeted projects centered around street harassment. HuffPo Photo released a series of pictures of their female editors holding pieces of paper with things men had said to them on the street. HuffPo encouraged other women to tweet using the hashtag #ThatsWhatHeSaid to share their own street harassment stories. Buzzfeed video released a Youtube clip on Thursday called “What Men Are Really Saying When They Catcall Women”.

At the same time, the #YouOKSis conversation is still going strong. Blogger and social worker, @FeministaJones, started a Twitter conversation in June to bring attention to street harassment, particularly highlighting how street harassment uniquely affects black women, whose voices are often ignored within the feminist community and within the black community on issues of gender.

Feminista Jones explains in an interview that the #YouOKSis hashtag is based on an experience she had in her neighborhood. She witnessed a man harass a young woman pushing a stroller; she decided to intervene and asked the woman, “You OK Sis?” It was a simple question rarely asked in these situations. But something this simple from a stranger can help to restore a sense of security to the victim and let the harasser know that what he did will not go unnoticed.

Feminista Jones tweeted this experience – detailed in a Storify – and @BlackGirlDanger responded. A trend began:

#YouOKSis has created constructive dialogue as well as controversy on Twitter and beyond, and it is still active two months later. Like the conversation around the UC Santa Barbara Shooting – #YesAllWomen and the subsequent #AllMenCan we wrote about months ago – #YouOKSis seeks to shine light women’s experiences and encourages bystanders to step in to #StopStreetHarassment.

In 2014, 65% of women reported experiencing street harassment, often multiple times a day. It happens regardless of how much or little clothing a woman is wearing and it affects her ability to exist in public space with a reasonable sense of safety and comfort. Women may avoid certain streets, blocks, or public transportation routes to spare themselves from the indignity of street harassment, though it’s impossible to avoid all the time. Even underage girls report being repeatedly harassed by strangers in public.

Street harassment is a regular part of women’s lives, but that can change with the help of campaigns like #YouOkSis. Street harassment isn’t anything new or unusual, yet this wave of online discussion has picked up steam in recent months, instigated by #YesAllWomen, diversified and strengthened by#YouOKSis, and then copied for a more mainstream and commercial audience with#ThatsWhatHeSaid.

Not surprisingly, #YouOkSis received pushback from some men on Twitter. Common responses were that women are trying to further criminalize black men, that street harassment is actually a compliment, and denial that street harassment even exists. Ironically, many women who participated in #YouOkSis were harassed by male Twitter users who were simultaneously trying to argue that women lie about being harassed. The heated opposition to #YouOkSis also overlooked the fact that women are harassed by men of all races. The hashtag was intended to let black women’s voices be heard, but it does not focus specifically on black men as the perpetrators.

For black women, street harassment and the response on social media brings up a unique set of tensions. Historically and to the present day, black women have been integral to the fight for racial justice, but their partnership often goes unrecognized. The effects of that come to the surface when talking about issues like street harassment. A common criticism shared by black feminists is that black men and women will rally for causes related to race and black men, but black men will not show the same level of support when the cause is one that affects black women specifically. As a result, fighting racism towards black men is considered more important than fighting racism and sexism that affects black women.

Part of the negative response can be attributed to the desire to keep these issues inside the black community. The problem is that if there is no discussion, there will be no solution. #YouOkSis has brought the discussion to the mainstream. Women are using the hashtag to support each other and demand a change. Such vehement opposition to addressing the problems that influence black women’s lives only perpetuates negative stereotypes of black men.

Huffington Post’s #ThatsWhatHeSaid efforts have been criticized for the title – which downplays the seriousness of women’s encounters with harassers – as well as for the lack of diversity and intersectionality that #YouOkSis uniquely provides. Though well-intended, it detracts from the more constructive and action-oriented #YouOkSis movement which seeks to end street harassment, not just share instances of harassment.

Feminista Jones wants to use the momentum created by #YouOkSis to push the movement against street harassment forward. She speaks and writes on the issue and plans to hold workshops, a perfect example of how Twitter activism can contribute to real-life action. Organizations like Stop Street Harassment and iHollaback! are already on this mission and helping to create awareness and take action in cities around the country. Through the #YouOkSis campaign and others like it, both men and women can choose to make the streets a safer and more respectful place for all women.

Hashtag Feminism Editor, Kelly Ehrenreich co-authored this post.

#BlackFemMusic Trends Globally, Missy Elliott Retweets #F

This post originally appeared on December 23, 2013 written by Hashtag Feminism’s first head writer, Kelly Ehrenreich.

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Beyonce garnered lots of attention this week after releasing her latest album in secret. Many have pointed to Bey’s dominance in the last year. The highlights include: singing the National Anthem at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, SHUTTING DOWN THE SUPERBOWL, and winning her 17th Grammy, thereby becoming the third most honored female artist in Grammy history.

Seriously.

The latest tribute to Beyonce’s power came from News & Then, a PBS program that started a Twitter chat using the hashtag #BlackFemMusic, which then trended globally by this afternoon.

#BlackFemMusic is a chat w/ @dreamhampton @thetrudz @feministajones @Blackamazon@karnythia on Black feminism in music. 11 am EST, 12/23.

— News and Then (@NewsAndThen) December 20, 2013

#BlackFemMusic was inspired by the lively debate that #Beyoncé‘s latest album has sparked about what feminism is and who can be a feminist.

— News and Then (@NewsAndThen) December 23, 2013

That is, #Beyoncé is one of many Black women producing feminist/womanist texts through music, and part of a longer tradition #BlackFemMusic

— News and Then (@NewsAndThen) December 23, 2013

Beyoncé has always upset mainstream feminism; message isn’t “generic.” Does tend to speak to BW intersectional experiences. #BlackFemMusic

— Trudy (@thetrudz) December 23, 2013

The discussion about Beyonce and her role in the Black feminist music world led to further conversations about other influential #BlackFemMusic artists, what is means to be a Black feminist, and what the music of Black feminism represents.

#BlackFemMusic shows the world that Black women are beautifully diverse, amazingly talented, and have stories to tell.

— A$AP Feminist (@FeministaJones) December 23, 2013

The five invited experts and hundreds of Twitter users created lists of current and past inspiring #BlackFemMusic including Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Tina Turner, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Salt-N-Pepa, TLC, Eartha Kitt, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Queen Latifah, Eve, Lil Kim, Nina Simone, Betty Davis, Tracy Chapman, Lady Saw, Joi, and Ashanti.

One of the mentioned #BlackFemMusic artists, Missy Elliott, even joined the conversation, RT’ing several fans who praised her influence and individuality in hip-hop.

RT @FeministaJones: @MissyElliott Defied beauty standards, brought raw sexuality/sensuality &writer, producer, emcee &singer #BlackFemMusic

— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) December 23, 2013

What did you get out of the #BlackFemMusic conversation? Were some of your favorite artists and music genres missing from the discussion?

Is #BlackFemMusic solely R+B and Hip Hop? Where are our jazz and classical divas at?

— P. Mimi Poinsett MD (@yayayarndiva) December 23, 2013

What makes a #BlackFemMusic artist? Does Beyonce typify and/or misrepresent this generation of empowered Black women musicians?

Speak on it. Share your brilliance below and on Twitter with @hashtagfeminism. You can also tweet me @kellybycoffee!