I was 14 years old, the first time that I heard the word, “feminist”. I had no clue what it meant, besides that it obviously had something to do with women. I was intrigued to learn that it was the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes, and I strived to learn more about this term and all that came along with it.
Around the same time as this discovery, I downloaded Facebook and Instagram since I just began high school and I longed to be just like my friends who had been using these platforms for a bit of time.
After following pages that interested me, including feminism, my timeline began to be filled with inspirational and news filled stories about women that made me feel something. These same posts and social media platforms in general are what I believe to have created a stronger feminist movement, that is not only well put together but also better informed.
I found that Social media platforms have given movements like feminism, Black lives matter, and others the possibilities of letting news be spread faster and reach more people, and also of having an easy way to gather numbers to form a protest or march. It has been called a "new wave" of feminism, since it allows anyone with internet access to learn about these issues and become activists themselves. The new possibilities are endless, and has given people the option of speaking their mind and having real conversations with others about these topics. Survivors of assault can find comfort online, where others have posted their stories in the #MeToo movement, which has now turned into a phenomenon that empowers women to open up and not be afraid to share their story.
Women's reproductive health is spoken about fairly lightly at schools, with a focus mainly on safe sex because of Texas having an abstinence only sexual education programs, many students are left ignorant on topics such as these. This in return leads to unwanted pregnancies, and abortions that students are also misinformed on. We are told places like Planned Parenthood are evil, and perform late term abortions just because women do not care enough to use any form of contraceptives, which by the way is a lie.
Social media has given Planned Parenthood a platform to spread news about abortions and the other services that they offer, that they otherwise would not have had the chance to if it was not for the platforms. There are so much stigma towards abortion, women’s rights and sexual assault, that social media was necessary for these topics to be clarified and spoken upon truthfully. Women are still being silenced in every day life, so having this outlet where you can reach anyone in the world to make a point is quite astounding. I have learned so much about slut shaming, sexual harassment, and misogyny while scrolling through my news feed that it allows me to broaden my horizons and go about the world differently.
Politics have found a place in feminist social media pages, for there are plenty of posts solely dedicated to letting the government know that women should fully own the autonomy of their bodies, and all of the statistics of sexual assault and the pay gap between men and women.
Having a source that allows you to communicate globally with just the click of a button has revolutionized the way we exist. It allows us to be much more organized, and also simply just be well informed individuals.
Social networking has given feminism a new source of energy, and will continue to grow and become a more established movement as time goes on!
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