Is social media activism here to #destroythejoint?
When shock jock Alan Jones infamously said women were ‘destroying the joint’, a social media movement was born that lead to an activist organization, real social change involving advertising being withdrawn from Jones’ program, a new level of awareness around the idea of misogyny and even a book.
The hashtag #destroythejoint began after media personality, Jane Caro (2013) tweeted “Got time on my hands tonight so thought I’d spend it coming up with new ways of “destroying the joint” being a woman & all. Ideas welcome.” (@janecaro, 2012) in response to Jones’ comments.
#destroythejoint then trended widely on social media and soon, a real life feminist activist group named ‘Destroy The Joint’ was born and Caro published a book of feminist essays by the same name. Author of one of these essays, Penny Wong, writes “The hashtag destroyingthejoint signalled enough … an underlying frustration with our society’s dominant voice that erupted in an online roar of ‘You don’t speak for me!” (Wong, 2013).
In terms of activism, the hashtag has been successful in raising feminist awareness. According to Caro “The playfulness of the Destroy the Joint moment moved activism and feminism, she believes, beyond where it usually resides.”(Razer, 2013)
It is easy to view this case study as a complete argument for the merits of social media for activism, however while it has succeded in generating discussion, it would be interesting to see what other parts of the feminist agenda it has advanced. For example, since the movement are women getting paid more, or are they receiving more job opportunities, has there been a measurable decrease in mysogonist chatter?
If not, the movement could be reduce to simple ‘slacktivism’, a word for or social media activism that can be defined as superficial, minimal effort in support of causes (Gladwell, 2010). Morosov (2009) describes it even more harshly as ‘feel good activism that has zero political or social impact’ but creates ‘an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining Facebook group’
Both Morotov and Gladwell have a point, as a social media user I can reaffirm my feminism by simply adding a hashtag to a tweet. Feminism? Check. Furthermore I can do this without really engaging in feminist discourse.
Another criticism of social media activism is the insularity of hashtag activism, or ‘social media as an echo chamber’ (Annear, 2013). In some way, this style of activism is akin to a group of politically minded folk talking about their views on the phone without engaging anybody else. Not everybody has twitter – so while it is a powerful tool, is it the best place to start a social movement?
Both sides of the debate on social media activism, and time will tell whether it will be a positive step toward the future of social change, or whether our hashtags are simply here to #destroy thejoint.
Annear, R., 2013, Hashtag Feminism: ‘Destroying the joint’, The Monthly, May edition, http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/may/1366950579/robyn-annear/hashtag-feminism
@janecaro,3 2012, “Got time on my hands tonight so thought I’d spend it coming up with new ways of “destroying the joint” being a woman & all. Ideas welcome.”, Twitter Post, August 31,
Gladwell, M., 2010Small change. The New Yorker, 4 October. Retrieved from http://www. newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell
Morozov, E., The Brave New World of Slacktivism, Foreign Policy (blog), 19 May http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism
Razer, H., 2013, Destroying the point, Sydney Morning Herald, May 19, http://www.smh.com.au/national/destroying-the-point-20130518-2jtgh.html
Wong, P., 2013, in Caro, J., Destroying the joint, U.Q.P, Australia
