{"id":794,"date":"2021-03-09T12:01:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T12:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/?p=794"},"modified":"2021-03-09T12:01:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T12:01:04","slug":"march-for-gender-1-how-a-feminist-collective-took-on-a-media-giant-to-challenge-everyday-sexism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/2021\/03\/09\/march-for-gender-1-how-a-feminist-collective-took-on-a-media-giant-to-challenge-everyday-sexism\/","title":{"rendered":"March for Gender #1: How a feminist collective took on a media giant to challenge everyday sexism"},"content":{"rendered":"

To mark International Women\u2019s Day 2021, the University of Bath\u2019s\u00a0Business and Society blog<\/a> and Copenhagen Business School\u2019s\u00a0Business of Society blog<\/a>\u00a0have teamed up to present March for Gender<\/strong>.\u00a0This month we will explore research focusing on gender, or research findings that have specific implications for women.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here, Sarah Glozer<\/a> and Lauren McCarthy<\/a> present their latest research into the online activities of the feminist group 'No More Page 3'. They explain why activists should take a step back for campaigning in order to maintain the energy needed to affect change. <\/em>This piece was originally published in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The daily image of a topless woman on page three of the Sun newspaper was considered by some to be a \u201cBritish institution\u201d. Yet it was also increasingly seen as a relic of institutionalised sexism in the media and society.<\/p>\n

Then in 2015, nearly 50 years after it was first introduced, the feature was quietly removed from the publication. This decision was credited, in part, to the online campaign efforts of the \u201cNo More Page 3\u201d (NMP3) movement, which gained the support of 140 members of parliament and numerous charities, including Women\u2019s Aid and Girlguiding. It also attracted more than 240,000 petition signatures.<\/p>\n

The campaign, which helped to force change at one of the UK\u2019s most popular and powerful media companies, was widely acclaimed, described by one MP as a \u201cseismic victory\u201d. Activist Katherine Sladden wrote, \u201cNo other campaign has done as much to inspire a new generation of young feminists,\u201d adding that it \u201cbecame the gateway for women finding the courage to speak out on issues they care about\u201d.<\/p>\n

But beneath this success story lies a complex tale of how emotional energy sustained the NMP3 campaigners through personal and painful trolling.<\/p>\n

Our research<\/a>\u00a0into the campaign reveals how supporters were met with online abuse on a daily basis. They regularly encountered rape and death threats aimed at themselves and their families.<\/p>\n

Campaign founder\u00a0Lucy-Anne Holmes has told<\/a>\u00a0how she suffered an \u201coverwhelming feeling of helplessness\u201d and \u201cburnout\u201d, recalling:<\/p>\n

It was terrifying. I was spent: financially, emotionally, creatively. Just going on Twitter with all of those voices coming at me would bring on a panic attack. I felt like I was being strangled by invisible hands.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Her experience was far from unique. For while the liberating potential of social media to mobilise collective action is widely valued,\u00a0the toxic climate<\/a>\u00a0many experience on social media is all too familiar, and can lead to stress, anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n

Yet the relentless online abuse aimed at the NMP3 campaigners \u2013 who deliberately tried to engage with their opponents through reasoned and polite posts \u2013 was tempered by messages of encouragement, both from each other and from supporters of their cause.<\/p>\n

This complex interplay of positive and negative emotions led us to dig deeper into the campaigners\u2019 survival story, and investigate the powerful techniques which kept them going in the face of such overwhelming adversity.<\/p>\n

One important element was the underlying sense of solidarity which became a powerful force in helping the campaigners to recharge and replenish, sustaining momentum through emotional highs and lows. Faced with trolling and harassment, many campaigners felt energised simply by being online with other women with shared experiences. This feeling of alignment with others created a valuable store of emotional energy.<\/p>\n

As one campaigner told us: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a campaign \u2026 it was a space where we could go and feel completely confident, we could share anything with each other, and work out what we thought about things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepping back to move forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Interestingly, this solidarity led to the coordinated and tactical use of a relay system adopted by the team. An exhausted campaigner wrestling with a hostile social media thread would \u201cpass the baton\u201d on to a colleague via a system of online messaging or \u201ctagging\u201d across platforms.<\/p>\n

This system became a vital part of keeping the campaign\u2019s momentum at times when some members felt the need to retreat from the front line. There was time and space for activists to step away from their screens, to disengage with the onslaught of social media.<\/p>\n

Usually temporary, these moments of stepping away were deliberate and empowering \u2013 they offered protection. And in preserving individual wellbeing, they also ensured the continuation of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Retreating, far from being seen as a form of weakness or defeat, was supported by the campaigners. It was a strategy which allowed for recovery of emotional energy and healing and, crucially, it rejuvenated the campaigners to return to campaigning.<\/p>\n

A genuine connection to the roots of the campaign was also something that sustained the (mostly female) volunteers. They drew on their aligned personal experiences, often reminiscing about teenage shame they experienced related to their bodies or of later episodes of sexual harassment. The emotions related to these experiences meant the campaigners didn\u2019t just \u201cthink\u201d shame or anger, they felt it deeply.<\/p>\n

One explained to us: \u201cThe feminist stuff still remains the thing that really lights me up.\u201d She continued: \u201cI feel it\u2019s personal, it\u2019s maternal, because I have a daughter, and a son who\u2019s affected by toxic masculinity. It\u2019s in my experience of abuse in relationship. I\u2019m angry about it and passionate about it because it\u2019s personal to me and people that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another said: \u201cStanding up for what is right is enough to make your legs go weak, your voice grow hoarse, and your hands shake with rage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six years on from the NMP3 victory, more action is needed to fight inequality in both our online and offline worlds \u2013 there is still plenty to campaign for. Digital platforms certainly need to better police social media channels which continue to tolerate and excuse trolling and hate speech, particularly that directed towards women.<\/p>\n

But we should be encouraged by NMP3\u2019s story of grassroots collective strength, and its journey to success. And we should also consider the lessons it provides about activism and the common advice for women to always \u201clean in\u201d. Sometimes, it seems, it\u2019s better to simply retreat, replenish and come back stronger.<\/p>\n

Listen to Sarah and Lauren discuss the research in this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To mark International Women\u2019s Day 2021, the University of Bath\u2019s\u00a0Business and Society blog and Copenhagen Business School\u2019s\u00a0Business of Society blog\u00a0have teamed up to present March for Gender.\u00a0This month we will explore research focusing on gender, or research findings that have...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1361,"featured_media":797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[107,13,95,129,99],"tags":[75,117,17,67,47,15],"class_list":["post-794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","category-gender-equality","category-social-media","category-wellbeing","category-women","tag-activism","tag-digital","tag-gender","tag-social-media","tag-wellbeing","tag-women"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2021\/03\/john-schnobrich-2FPjlAyMQTA-unsplash-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd4Pj1-cO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/business-and-society\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}