2013: The Year of the Feminist Hashtag #FeminismMeans #F

This post originally appeared on December 30, 2013 written by founder, Tara L. Conley.

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On December 23, 2013 Hashtag Feminism released a comprehensive analysis of this year’s top feminist hashtags. Among the most widely cited hashtags of 2013 include, #TwitterFeminism,#NotYourAsianSidekick, #fem2, #femfuture, #BeyonceThinkPieces, #MyFeminismLooksLike,#SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen, and #FastTailedGirls. I explain more about the meanings and evolution of these hashtags HERE.

The list is in no way meant to represent a definitive statement about which feminist hashtags were considered “the best” of this year. Rather, the purpose of the analysis was to trace how the meaning of these hashtags evolved over time, along with celebrating the most widely used feminist hashtags that primarily functioned to gather information, share stories and wit, and talk back to the status quo.

Now that our stories are arguably more visible than before, I wonder, as does blogger and self-identified Generation Y-er, Jenn of @reappropriate wonders, how might hashtag-ing in this millennial moment impact broader social movements concerned with equality and justice?

#Feminism

It is often noted that the primary uses of hashtags are to build brands, campaigns, and follow trends. As we enter into a new(er) era of social activism and advocacy, what meta meanings do we attach to feminism by way of the hashtag?

When #BlackPowerAsianPeril debuted last week as a way to talk about “shared goals” and bridge-building between Black and Asian American communities, I wondered about how this hashtag, or rather critical conversations around the hashtag, might impact how we go about addressing racism (colonization and discrimination) poverty, and mental health issues (access and stigma) shared among both diverse communities.

I think #BlackPowerYellowPeril will REALLY scare the white supremacists tomorrow. I'm even reading up on historical divide.

— Suey (@suey_park) December 25, 2013

The archiving of feminist-leaning thought and practices didn’t begin in 2013, but this year marked a moment in history when nuanced critical conversations traveled outside of Twitter and into online and offline mainstream media contexts. That #NotYourAsianSidekick appeared in Time, Al Jazeera America, ABC, and BBC, and that #solidarityisforwhitewomen and #solidarityisforblackmenappeared on NPR, among other outlets, might indicate that broader audiences are paying more attention to our stories than ever before.

But this sort of online political and social activism isn’t without criticism. Often when we see critics come out against hashtags as a mark of new activism, we find arguments that set up what I believe to be a false binary between real vs. not-really-real change.

Kai Ma’s uninformed piece on #NotYourAsianSidekick in Time may be an example of a critique that presents a false binary without further exploration. Ma writes,

I’m all about not being your Asian sidekick — I support and applaud the platform — but can we please move from digital activism to social change?

I’m not sure what Ma mean’s when she asserts that we “move from digital activism to social change” Does she mean change as in legislative impact (see #StandWithWendy)? Community impact (see #RenishaMcBride)? Societal impact (see #Jan25, #Arabspring, #Egypt)?

Maureen O’Connor’s piece in NYMag.com asks can feminist hashtags dismantle the state? setting up a similarly polarizing argument. Sure enough, the Twitterverse responded:

#TheMediumIsTheMessage

Perhaps critics of the medium have a point about how meaning, particular associated with certain hashtags, gets lost in often contentious spaces of #Twitterfeminism. I’d argue, however, that heated exchanges about the lives and politics of individuals have always been contentious. If you sit two people in a room, face-to-face, with different life stories and political philosophies, chances are they’ll likely at some point disagree with one another. And if these same individuals enter into the room with their minds already set on how the other person thinks and experiences, then surely finding shared goals between the two will be difficult to accomplish. The absence of mediated channels doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of ego.

Twitter doesn’t make it more difficult for people to understand one another or build movements, people do.

In a moment of 140-character thoughts and context-driven hashtags with lack of context clues, the medium actually requires more from us. We have to sit with Twitter just as we would with an epic poem, yet we marinate on these texts for different reasons. I’m not as quick to blame Twitter as I am more thoughtful about the way I use Twitter to think through personal and political issues with complete strangers. At times, for me, some things are better left untweeted, and instead quietly reflected upon.

We’re all trying to situate our selves in this moment, always trying to carve out a digital space, sometimes at the cost of our sanity. Twitter isn’t for everyone, nor should it be, and that’s OK.

Because Twitter asks more of me as I grapple with meaning, I tend towards an observational and reflexive stance. And because the hashtag exists, I can better parse through the myriad of constantly updated conversations related to how others grapple. Now that we have the ability to search and archive these conversations with tools like Topsy, Keyhole, and others, it makes for an even more enriching observational experience. For the very first time since I joined Twitter in 2008, I can temporarily leave Twitter to sit with the feminist media of Twitter.

Parsing, observing, and curating is how I grapple with #Twitterfeminism.

#FeminismMeans

I have a pretty good working definition of what #FeminismMeans to me, which is largely informed by my experiences,

1. growing up in a Midwestern working class interracial family, taking care of an aging parent.

2. fighting for fair and equal treatment as an elementary, middle school, high school, and college female athlete.

3. studying Chicana feminism, Black feminist thought, and feminist spiritualities at a Texas state graduate institution.

Though I’m not so sure about how my working definition of feminism fits in with the 1,847+ other working definitions of feminism, informed by the 1,847,000+ other life experiences out there in the ether.

I readily admit that I don’t exactly know what #FeminismMeans to others with which I share a digital and social community. I suspect that how we understand and do feminism varies according to how we grew up and came of age.

I also suspect that my “brand” of feminism isn’t shared by others, which is why, at this point in my life I try very hard to first relate my life experiences to another individual rather than falling prey to policing someone else’s “brand” of feminism. It’s not easy, and I’m not always right.

#FeminismMeans different things to different people at different moments in their lives. And because language changes and evolves #FeminismIs, at times, a moving epistemological and ontological target. #FeminismIsNot, especially in 2013, an homogenous concept. The genre of feminist hashtags is proof that conceptually, feminism consists of many different, and often fluctuating parts. #Feminism, at times, amounts to an abstraction, a “thing” that many of us continue to grapple with because “it” isn’t something easily reflected in mainstream contexts.

Maybe #twitterfeminism hasn't built part of mvmnt you participate in but Feminism is not so flat that you can make that general statement.

— Jessica W. Luther (@scATX) December 23, 2013

"Allowing only women you agree or identify with to have a voice is not feminism or sisterhood, but something else. It's spite" @TanyaGold1

— Stephanie (@ArtfullyAdored) December 27, 2013

#HashtagFeminismIs

This is why Hashtag Feminism exists, so that as a collective, we zoom out and then parse through the conversations, debates, and dialog to build a picture of what feminism might look like during an Obama and millennial era. Hashtag Feminism is for the futurist feminist archivist who, in 100 years looks back at this digital moment and understands why the hashtag marked an important meta political stance in 2013.

Though someone like Maureen O’Connor might view Hashtag Feminism, a website primarily dedicated to archiving and exploring critical conversations, as greeting card folly, I think otherwise.

[T]rend-chasing websites that arrange The Best Tweets From #WhateverHashtag into listicles only seem to amplify the giant-stack-of-greeting-cards perception of Twitter activism. Even the most profound of one-liners start to seem vapid when you’re reading Bartlett’s Quotes cover-to-cover like a novel.

Hashtag Feminism isn’t so much about listing for the sake of listing, or calling out people for the sport of it, it is (as @BattyMamzelle so poignantly tweeted) about ‘collecting receipts’. We are a space that allows for more time to observe and reflect upon a wide range of personal and political issues that emerge by way of Twitter and other social media spaces.

Hashtag Feminism is my little digital space carved out.

If 2013 is the year of the feminist hashtag; the year that we grappled and reckoned with the Other’s lived experiences, then let 2014 be the year when #FeminismMeans actively and deliberately transforming so we can be better to ourselves and for our shared communities.

Top Feminist Hashtags of 2013 (Explained) #F

This post originally appeared on December 29, 2013 written by founder, Tara L. Conley.

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In case you need a quick reference guide about what some of your favorite feminist hasthags of 2013 mean and how they evolved over time, here ya go!

#TwitterFeminism – First appeared three years ago but it’s meaning has since evolved into an umbrella term that, depending on who you ask encompasses all that is right, or all that is wrong with feminist discourse on Twitter.

The #twitterfeminism backlash isn’t really about social media vs. “real feminism.” It’s a few white cis ladypundits fearful it’s working.

— Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagira) December 19, 2013

#NotYourAsianSidekick – First appeared on December 14, 2013 and was created by @suey_park as a way to engage in a critical conversation about Asian American feminism. To date,#NotYourAsianSidekick is one of the fastest growing feminist hashtags to spread globally.

I will never apologize for being angry about your racism. #NotYourAsianSidekick

— Alyssa Wong (@crashwong) December 16, 2013

#fem2 – First appeared on December 15, 2008 when @blogdiva responded to a tweet about what to call feminism on Twitter. Ever since, the hashtag has grown and continues to be the longest running, widely used, and consistently referenced feminist hashtag on Twitter.

Justice Sotomayor will trigger ball drop on #NYE! Love that an amazing woman will help ring in 2014. #Fem2 #NYE2014 http://t.co/ho0HGucdza

— Jaclyn Munson (@OnwardnFword) December 30, 2013

#femfuture – First appeared on December 18, 2009 when @shelbyknox tweeted a request for a hashtag that describes the work of young feminist activists. The hashtag is now widely associated with Femfuture.com.

Launch of something like femfuture once again reminds me how centered most of feminism is in a single location, even when talking online.

— Jessica W. Luther (@scATX) April 8, 2013

#BeyonceThinkPieces – First appeared on December 18, 2013 and was created by @adriananova_in response to the flood of articles, blog posts, and analyses published about Beyonce and her latest album. The hashtag is perhaps one of the most humorous and witty feminist-leaning hashtags to come out of 2013.

I Woke Up Like This: How Beyonce Is Erasing The Voice Of Women Who Wrap Their Hair At Night #beyoncethinkpieces

— Brokey McPoverty (@brokeymcpoverty) December 18, 2013

#MyFeminismLooksLike – First appeared on December 14, 2013 and was created by @prisonculture, again inspired by Beyonce’s record-breaking album. The hashtag celebrates the various ways feminism looks according self-identified feminists.

This evening, #myfeminismlookslike (I don't do photos so…) pic.twitter.com/dSsAwJDi9b

— Prison Culture (@prisonculture) December 15, 2013

#SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen – First appeared on August 12, 2013 and was created by @Karnythiain response to status quo feminism and Hugo Swytzher. The hashtag continues to evolve.

.@anidifranco holding a retreat on a plantation exemplifies #solidarityisforwhitewomen in the worst way possible.

— mj (@munachao) December 28, 2013

#FastTailedGirls – First appeared in 2010 but it’s meaning has since transformed from a commonly used pejorative to demean Black girls, to now cited as one of the fastest growing hashtags that explores the lifestories of Black women’s sexuality, thanks in large part to its primary purveyor @Karnythia.

At it's core, #FastTailedGirls is blaming children for the actions of grown men. Don't wear this, don 't move like this…just don't exist.

— Reagan Gomez (@ReaganGomez) November 30, 2013

What Happens When You Make A Wordle of #TwitterFeminism? #F

This post originally appeared on December 24, 2013 written by founder, Tara L. Conley.

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Wordle: a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source.

After spending hours in front of the computer scanning tweets and hashtags over the past few days, I wondered about how our words (and sentiments) might be represented by each individual hashtag. Given the overwhelming response to Top Feminist Hashtags of 2013, (by the way, thank you! Please donate to my labor), I wondered what it means to give meaning to a hashtag. I’m obsessed with data. And whether we like it or not, numbers and words have a unique way of telling their own story.

So what happens when you make a Wordle of the hashtag #TwitterFeminism? By way of Topsy, I took a random sample of 30 tweets (of 598) within the past day that were associated with the#TwitterFeminism hashtag, which roughly amounts to a 5% sample size. I copied and pasted each tweet (manually!) into the a Wordle text box. I removed the hashtag #TwitterFeminism and only placed words without hashtags and Twitter handles in the text box.

#Geekshit

A Hashtag Synonymous with Feminism #F: #noreallythisisbullshit

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

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Over the weekend in the land of #TwitterFeminism, online Feminists used the hashtag#noreallythisisbullshit OR #noreallythisbullshit to call out the types of anti-Feminist justifications people use to ignore oppression (in other words, bullshit).

SaltyPepper summed up the use of these hashtags perfectly…

The #noreallythisbullshit tag is glorious in how comprehensive it is.

— Saltypepper (@saltypepper) December 22, 2013

The #noreallythisisbullshit trend is calling out all kinds of oppression: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, victim-blaming, slut-shaming, and general ignorance. Here are a few great examples:

Men get these biological urges to rape, they just can’t help themselves #NoReallyThisIsBullshit

— Renee Davidson (@reneetheorizes) December 22, 2013

I don't see "color" and if you do, you're the racist one. #noreallythisisbullshit

— PrestonMitchum (@PrestonMitchum) December 22, 2013

I am a white man. Let me loudly and repeatedly tell you you're not oppressed #NoReallyThisBullshit

— Sook Minty Fresh (@doloresonthedot) December 22, 2013

#noreallythisisbullshit "I actually tutored two black kids, so I'm not racist." pic.twitter.com/ATjeRn8GZ0

— Sleezy Jefferson (@Taniyahpls) December 22, 2013

Many #noreallythisisbullshit tweets highlighted hypocrisy within the Feminist or other anti-oppression movements, such as white women not supporting WOC or gay women, Black men undermining black women, gay supporters downplaying trans rights.

“I’M A FEMINIST!” *ignores WoC* *ignores disabled women* *ignores trans* women* *ignores gay women* #NoReallyThisIsBullshit

— Freya (@FuzzCookies) December 22, 2013

What do you think of the use of Twitter and a bit of snark to get across the Feminist message? Do you think this is an effective way to call out inconsistency and encourage recognition of others’ struggles? Tweet me @kellybycoffee or @hashtagfeminism to discuss.

Roseanne Barr says #TwitterFeminism is “purging of feminist speech & opinion”

This post originally appeared on December 21, 2013 written by founder, Tara L. Conley.

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TwitterFeminism is "purging of feminist speech & opinion"" data-count="none">Tweet

Roseanne Barr (@TheRealRoseanne) tweeted that #TwitterFeminism is a “purging of feminist speech & opinion”. Who’s purging and what opinions matter most on this hashtag? Share your thoughts below.

#twitterfeminism = purging of feminist speech & opinion.

— Roseanne Barr (@TheRealRoseanne) December 22, 2013