Rape culture and social media: young critics and a feminist counterpublic
Abstract Social media sites, according to Carrie A. Rentschler, can become both "aggregators of online misogyny" as well as key spaces for feminist education and activism. They are spaces where "rape culture," in particular, is both performed and resisted, and where a feminist counterpublic can be formed (Michael Salter 2013) In this New Zealand study, we interviewed seventeen young people who were critical of rape culture about their exposure and responses to it on social media and beyond. Participants described a "matrix of sexism" in which elements of rape culture formed a taken for granted backdrop to their everyday lives. They readily discussed examples they had witnessed, including victim blaming, "slut shaming," rape jokes, the celebration of male sexual conquest, and demeaning sexualized representations of women. While participants described this material as distressing, they also described how online spaces offered inspiration, education, and solidarity that legitimated their discomfort with rape culture. Social media provided safe spaces that served as a buffer against the negative effects of sexism, and allowed participation in a feminist counterpublic that directly contests rape culture.