Feminist Influencers Online: Experiences of Participation, Sexism, and Misogyny

在TikTok上发布了一段视频，谴责“进厨房给我做个三明治”这句话的厌女意味后，我经历了连续3天的无情吐槽。我一打开这款应用就会看到一连串的谩骂，最后我不得不暂时离开这款应用。我认为自己脸皮相当厚，但我震惊地发现，这次经历对我的影响是如此之大。随着我在TikTok上的粉丝越来越多，很少有一天在评论区没有一些性别歧视的交流——最好的情况是善意的，最坏的情况是明确的强奸或暴力威胁。作为一名白人中产阶级顺性别女性，我在这款应用上的体验可能比大多数人都要好。然而对于其他身处社会不同十字路口的女权主义内容创作者来说，她们很可能会从多个角度遭受虐待。当我考虑到我自己相对短暂的“网络喷子”经历的影响，以及它对我幸福的影响时——黑人女性、跨性别女性、残疾女性仅仅是试图说出自己的想法，她们的经历会有多严重？至关重要的是，由于这些有害的经历，有多少女性没有参与，或者已经停止参与网络空间？网络虐待的多面性塑造了网络女权主义社区，以及那些愿意或能够公开参与的人。在交叉女权主义的时代，我们必须了解偏见是如何影响那些不受白人中产阶级特权保护的在线女权主义者的机会、虐待和经历的。在我们的现实生活中，有很多都是在网上发生的，了解女性所处环境的本质，对于了解这一代年轻女性的未来体验至关重要。关于女性参与女性主义网络话语的障碍的研究很少。在这种背景下，至关重要的是，我们要了解网络敌意在多大程度上不仅影响了女性的经历和参与，还影响了年轻男性的经历，他们暴露在这种敌意中，发现偏见可能被孵化为明确的性别歧视。本研究将重点关注年轻女性影响者使用社交媒体推广女权主义思想和实践的经历和活动，以及她们与支持者和反对者的在线社交互动。将采用混合方法来解决三个关键研究问题：RQ1：女权主义影响者的目标是什么？参与的障碍是什么？RQ2：活跃在网络上的女权主义影响者是如何体验和回应性别歧视和厌女行为的？RQ3：女权主义影响者是如何与“大科技”互动的？他们如何看待女权主义在数字世界中的未来？这项研究旨在为参与女权主义话语的年轻女性提供更深入的了解网络空间的多面性，塑造当代关于网络上如何经历不文明、性别歧视和厌女症的辩论。

After posting a video on TikTok calling out the misogynistic undertones of the phrase "get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich", I experienced relentless trolling for 3 days. I couldn't open the app without seeing a barrage of abuse, and in the end I had to take a break from the app altogether. I consider myself to have fairly 'thick skin', but I was shocked to find how affected I was as by this experience. As my following on TikTok grows, it's rare that a day goes by without some kind of sexist exchange in the comment section- benign at best, explicit threat of rape of violence, at worst. As a white, middle-class cisgender woman, my experience on the app will likely be better than most. However for other feminist content creators who sit at different intersections of society, they are likely to experience abuse from multiple angles. When I consider the impact of my own, relatively brief, experience of trolling and the affect that had on my wellbeing- how much more severe is the experience of black women, trans women, disabled women, simply trying to speak their minds? Crucially, how many women are not participating, or have ceased participating in online spaces, as a result of these toxic experiences? The multifaceted nature of online abuse shapes the online feminist community, and those who are willing or able to participate openly. In the age of intersectional feminism, it is crucial that we understand how prejudices influence the opportunities, abuse and experience of feminists online who are not protected by white middle-classed privilege. In a time where so much of our reality plays out online, understanding the nature of that environment for women is crucial in understanding the future experience for this generation of young women. There is little research on the barriers to female participation in relation to online discourses around feminism. In this context, it is crucial that we understand the extent to which online hostility shapes not only female experience and participation, but also the experience of young men who are exposed to that hostility and find environments in which biases can be incubated into explicit sexism. This research will focus on the experiences and activities of young female influencers who use social media to promote feminist ideas and practices and their online social interaction with supporters and opponents. A mixed-methods approach will be undertaken to address three key research questions: RQ1: What are the objectives of feminist influencers and what are the perceived barriers to participation? RQ2: How do feminist influencers who are active online experience, and respond to, sexist and misogynistic behaviour? RQ3: How do feminist influencers interact with 'big tech' and how do they see the future of feminism operating in the digital world? This research aims to provide greater insight into the multifaceted nature of online spaces for young women engaging in feminist discourse, shaping contemporary debates on how incivility, sexism and misogyny are experienced online.