Analytical Response 2 - Performing Gender and Social Movement Media
Performing Gender and Social Movement Media
The online world has given individuals, who feel as though their presence in the real world fails to be influential, the opportunity to enhance their voices and opinions on a platform that can be taken advantage of without restraints. Although this is not entirely the case, since some media sites have started to enforce regulations to limit the amount of excessive unpleasant behavior, they are still more accommodating to those who feel more confident expressing their views in an online environment. However, although social media gives people this opportunity, there are some drawbacks in the form of ongoing hate messages towards users. In addition to this, social media also grants the chance for gatherings in the real world in an increased amount of numbers. Because of the wide reach that social media has, if a small group of people are interested in gathering for a cause, they have the ability to share it on the Internet and improve their chances of an influential turn out.
Social media sites, such as YouTube, give people a platform where they can engage in debates about social, economic or political issues without the facing any sort of ridicule or threats in person. Although hatred unfortunately still occurs online, users generally feel a sense of safety because they are expressing themselves behind a screen. This assumedly becomes their reasoning for ongoing contribution on these sites. In the article “Performing Gender on YouTube”, the authors Lindsey Wotanis and Laurie McMillan illustrate the presence of gender inequality on YouTube by giving examples of how YouTube stars perform gender and in turn raise awareness and controversy towards social issues related to gender roles. For this response however, I choose not to focus on the issue of gender inequality but rather what YouTube as a social media platform affords to its users as well as the subscribers to these channels. Furthermore, I will solely respond to the critique on the female example used. In the article, the authors focused on the YouTube sensation Jenna Mourey, famously known for her channel named Jenna Marbles. Through this critique of Marbles, the reader sees how this type of social media platform allows her to express her views on social matters through video but also demonstrates how she deals with harsh feedback from viewers. Although Marbles receives a copious amount of positive feedback on her videos, because of her exaggerated performance of gender roles in comedic styles she also gets a great deal of hatred towards the videos. The authors write, “evidence of misogyny directed toward Mourey, the most successful female YouTube performer, suggests the seriousness of hostility toward women on video-sharing sites” (Wotanis & McMillan, 2014). Even though this quote focuses on the gender differences, it explicitly exemplifies how people who express hatred towards women in response to the content. During the authors’ critique of Marble’s performance on YouTube, they cite Danielle Keats Citron’s commentary on the effect of cyber bullying. Her point is especially important in my view. They state, ‘“victims can ignore or defeat with counterspeech,” advancing the argument that those who are unable to deal with the problem should just abandon online interactions. [This however, ends up] “discouraging women from reporting cyber gender harassment and preventing law enforcement from pursuing cyber-harassment complaints”’ (Wotanis, McMillan & Citron, 2014). This becomes problematic because if users remove themselves from social media sites, yes, there will no longer be the presence of negative comments on that particular channel, however negative people will just go elsewhere and the issue would go unsolved.
The impact of social movement media has been especially crucial in the past two days following the Ferguson decision. After Darren Wilson was not indicted for the death of Michael Brown, people bombarded social media platforms with textual and pictorial posts expressing their various views on the decision. Here at Rutgers, students used social media in order to share information about protests that were occurring on campus. Similarly to the riots in London mentioned “#Riot: Self-Organized, Hyper-Networked Revolts—Coming to a City Near You”by Bill Wasik, which were fueled by “BlackBerry Messenger, a private system in which “broadcasting” messages…can be done for free, with a single command” (Wasik, 2011). This idea is reinforced by a photo that I saw on my Facebook page on the night of the decision that was of a protest being held on Douglass Campus.
Cory Doctorow in “The Internet is the Best Place for Dissent to Start”,gives examples pertaining to the actions on these media platforms. He states, “people will use the tools they are familiar with to get the word out” (Doctorow,2012). This idea was especially apparent following the Ferguson decision as I watched hundreds of commentary appear on my Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr timelines on the event.
Doctorow, C. (2012, January 3). The internet is the best place for dissent to start. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2012/jan/03/the-internet-best-dissent-start
Wasik, B. (2011, December 16). #Riot: Self-Organized, Hyper-Networked. Retrieved from Wired: file:///C:/Users/Scott/Downloads/Wasik+-+2011+-+_Riot+Self-Organized%252C+Hyper-Networked+Revolts+—+Coming+to+a+City+Near+You.pdf
Wotanis, L., & McMillan, L. (2014). Performing Gender on YouTube. Feminist Media Studies.
