Why Personal Activism Counts

I am sure we have all at one point in our lives signed an electronic petition or liked a Facebook page for an important cause, thinking that we might actually make a difference. I know I have. But once you exit that webpage, do you ever look into that cause after and see if your click made a difference?

If your answer is no, then that’s okay, mine was too.

But I can tell you something. You participated in clicktivism or slacktivism, a type of everyday activism that uses everyday online gestures to support a cause. For example, liking a concept on social media or signing an online petition (McCafferty 2011). It is also a type of subactivism, a type of activism that unfolds at a personal level and intertwined into everyday life (Bakardjieva, 2009).

Now in the academic world, clicktivism has a bad connotation attached to it. Think of it like flicking your light switch on but nothing happens, the light doesn’t come on. Clicktivism is the same. You like that Facebook page supporting a good cause, but nothing really happens after that.

However, as the total optimist I am, I like to hope that maybe that isn’t true, and Stephenson-Abetz agrees with me. Stephenson-Abetz (2012) discussed everyday activism in relation to the narratives of feminist daughters. He explained that by “creating a meaningful private sphere through personal activism is as important as public activism to these feminist thinkers”, and I think this is an important part of all types of activism. For example, although clicktivism has a negative connotation to it, it may have a silver lining after all. Liking a page or signing an electronic petition may not bring a direct outcome for that particular page or petition, but it starts a conversation – it spreads awareness.

These conversations were what made the #MeToo movement such a big moment in history.

(Milano 2017)

A year on from Alyssa Milano posting that first history-altering tweet in 2018, the #MeToo hashtag gained over 19 million tweets. Although used originally from Tarana Burke 10 years beforehand, this single tweet has changed lives.

Brown (2018) interviews a 28-year-old workplace sexual assault survivor, who says “Maybe someone reading it will reach out and get help for themselves. Or maybe someone reads it and thinks ‘Wow, I’ve done that. Maybe I should stop’” and that is a life-changing conversation that came from a visible type of subactivism. A life-changing moment from a click of a button.

(AP 2017)

McCafferty (2011) asks the question: “Does a simple copy/paste/send act constitute activism at its finest?” and in this case, I say absolutely.

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References:

Bakardjieva, M 2012, ‘Subactivism: Lifeworld and Politics in the Age of the Internet’, Inventing the internet, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 91-104.

Brown, D 2018, ‘19 million tweets later: A look at #MeToo a year after the hashtag went viral’, USA Today, 13 October.

Kudiwa, T 2014, ‘#Slacktivism?’, University Wire, 13 Nov.

McCafferty, D 2011, ‘Activism vs. slacktivism’, Communications of the ACV, vol. 54, no. 12, pp. 17-19.

Stephenson-Abetz, J 2012, ‘Everyday activism as a dialogic practice: Narratives of feminist daughters’, Women’s Studies in Communication, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 96-117.

Images:

AP 2017, ‘#MeToo Survivors March’ [image], in D Brown 2018, 19 million tweets later: A look at #MeToo a year after the hashtag went viral, USA Today, viewed 22 April 2020, <https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/13/metoo-impact-hashtag-made-online/1633570002/>.

Milano, A 2017, Milano tweet starting the #MeToo movement, 16 September, viewed 22 April 2020, (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/13/metoo-impact-hashtag-made-online/1633570002/).

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