Remixing misandry, manspreading, and dick pics: networked feminist humour on Tumblr

Abstract

In this paper, we explore new forms of networked feminist humour curated on Tumblr. First, we consider the Misandry Mermaid Tumblr by exploring how the site remediates antifeminist discourses of man-hating by deploying a sarcastic discourse of misandry. We argue that the site is plagued, however, by a form of gender binary antagonism. Then, we explore an anti-manspreading site, savingroomforcats, showing how the site challenges hetero-masculine spatial dominance through the humorous insertion of cats into manspreading images. We argue that these posts tend to lack an intersectional awareness of racialised masculinity. Finally, we explore the site critiquemydickpic, which subverts dominant understandings of dick pics as threatening, generating a queer politics of disrupting phallicoriented desire.

Estrategias comunicativas desde el ciberfemismo: @Feminismosmad y la cifusión en Twitter de la Huelga del 8M en Madrid

“…En corto, el poder y privilegio masculinos han reaccionado con el desarrollo de movimientos antifeministas y fundamentalmente misóginos que se movilizan alrededor de temas específicos, como la violencia doméstica contra hombres, la custodia de los hijos, el divorcio o la feminización de la educación. La migración de estos grupos a los medios y redes sociales ha supuesto un relevante cambio en sus estrategias, preocupaciones y modos comunicativos del feminismo (Banet-Weiser, 2018;Ging, 2017Ging, , 2019. Campañas en redes como #masculinitysoFragile se originaron, de hecho, con la intención de apuntar hacia formas de masculinidad tóxica y comportamientos sexistas tanto dentro como fuera de la Red (Banet-Weiser, 2018; Banet-Weiser y Miltner, 2019).…”

Play-Doh Vulvas and Felt Tip Dick Pics: Disrupting phallocentric matter(s) in Sex Education

“…Perhaps we can reposition girls' relationships to the digital dick pic in a way that troubles these phallic digital force relations, what Renold and Ringrose (2016) discussed as forms of phallic tagging and touch and connection generated through social media networks. We can move from "digital flashing" and coercive affects to something understandable, "reworking the dick pick" to something expected and manageable as part of an endemic sexualised and pornified media terrain (Ringrose and Lawrence, 2018).…”

“…The key is to frame this discussion explicitly within a conversation about sexual ethics, rights, and consent (Renold and McGeeny, 2018). By helping girls understand the penile power plays at work, we can give them the material, discursive, and affective tools to understand and manage this imagery on their own terms, enabling a form of clitoral validity for remattering what the dick pic can and cannot do (Ringrose and Lawrence, 2018).…”

The Personal is Political: Assessing Feminist Fundamentals in the Digital Age

“…This is due to the largely 'hidden' and perceived individualistic nature of this feminism-allegedly lacking the consciousness-raising groups and meetings that were so central to the WLM. However, many feminist scholars have recently begun to take seriously the role of social media in the enactment of (particularly young) feminist subjectivities and the role of the digital in contemporary feminist activism-offering both positive evaluations and interesting critiques (Keller 2012(Keller , 2016a(Keller , 2016bLoza 2014;Clark 2016;Sills et al 2016;Retallack et al 2016;Ringrose and Lawrence 2018). This growing interest in social media and its emerging body of research poses some important questions: what does it really mean to do activism in consumer-capitalist contexts?…”