Tweeting about sexism motivates further activism: A social identity perspective

Abstract

Women, more so than men, are using social media activism to respond to sexism. However, when they do, they are also faced with gendered criticisms 'hashtag feminism' that may instead serve to silence them. Based on social identity theory, this research examined how women's social media activism, in response to sexism, may be a first step towards further activism. Two studies used a simulated Twitter paradigm to expose women to sexism and randomly assign them to either tweet in response, or to a no-tweet control condition. Both studies found support for a serial mediation model such that tweeting out after sexism strengthened social identity, which in turn increased collective action intentions, and in turn, behavioural collective actions. Study 2 further showed that validation from others increases the indirect effect of tweeting on behavioural collective action through collective action intentions, but group efficacy did not moderate any indirect effects. It was concluded that social media activism in response to sexism promotes an enactment of women's social identity, thereby mobilizing them to further action.Social media is an activist platform of choice for women more so than men (Murthy, Gross,

Savvy and woke: Gender, digital profile, social media competence, and political participation in gender issues among young Filipino netizens

“…Our findings suggest that females demonstrate higher latent and follower engagement SMPP-GI, which confirms previous research that women politically engage in gender issues to enact their gender identity (Chante'Tanksley, 2019 ; Foster et al, 2021 ). Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ individuals report higher latent, follower, and expressive engagement SMPP-GI.…”

“…The dominance of patriarchy and cisheterosexism in society breeds conditions that marginalize women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other non-cisheterosexual (LGBTQ+) identifying persons (Cravens, 2020 ; Fitzgerald and Grossman, 2020 ). These conditions can stimulate political participation among members of these oppressed gender categories, which in turn, enhance the group's collective identity, and strengthen the members' sense of personal identity (Vestergren et al, 2017 ; Cravens, 2020 ; Foster et al, 2021 ). Since our present study examines SMPP specific to gender issues, we chose gender as our first explanatory variable of interest.…”

“…However, the context of the political participation measured in these studies was not specific to gender-issues. Studies that did examine SMPP related to gender issues did not, however, attempt to quantitatively differentiate females from males, and/or cisheterosexual identities from LGBTQ+ counterparts (Jones and Brewster, 2017 ; Foster et al, 2021 ; Quan-Haase et al, 2021 ; Thompson and Turnbull-Dugarte, 2021 ). Our first research objective attempts to test how SMPP-GI is influenced by gender, which covers sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, and gender identity.…”

“You Don’t Know Me so Don’t Try to Judge Me”: Gender and Identity Performance on Social Media Among Young Indian Users

“…The study of Yoder et al (2010) on self-labeling found that self-categorization as a feminist predicts engagement in collective action online. Moreover, engaging in Twitter activism in response to sexism was found to promote an enactment of women's social identity, which led to further mobilization for collective action (Foster et al, 2020). Discussing the "Gender digital divide" in developing countries, Antonio and Tuffley (2014) note that one of the most significant benefits of the internet for women is the potential for forming social networks, selfexpression, and a collective identity formation.…”

When and why does political trust predict well‐being in authoritarian contexts? Examining the role of political efficacy and collective action among opposition voters

“…In a similar vein, we believe there has been little focus on the outcomes of online protests (but see Foster, 2015;Foster et al, 2021 for some exceptions). As online protest is more accessible for people in repressive contexts (Odağ et al, 2016;Tufekci & Wilson, 2012), it would be worth further investigating what online protest means for protesters and how it may be used to bring about social change yet maintain well-being in a repressive context.…”