#YesAllWomen- The Power of Hashtag Activism

Dublin Core

Title

Subject

#YesAllWomen, Isla Vista Massacre, misogyny, violence towards women

Description

The #YesAllWomen collection describes the grassroot movement that was a response to the 2014 Isla Killings in California. On May 23, 2014, Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded thirteen others. He shot three sorority members. Before the massacre, Rodger posted online videos and manifesto that detailed his anger over women rejecting him. Women made connections between Rodger's words and incidents they have encountered in their own lives. The hashtag parodies the #notallmen meme. The premise behind #YesAllWomen is not all men engage in violent behaviors or sexist attitudes but all women fear some sort of violence or experience sexism and harassment every day. Roger’s hate grew out of attitudes around us. Women have to live with the fear of rape or the threat of violence. On twitter women report the everyday sexism they encounter and their everyday fear of violence. The hashtag quickly grew in popularity and had over a million tweets within a couple of days. It demonstrates the power of hashtag activism. Other activist hashtags did not grow as quickly. The #YesAllWomen hashtag started a powerful conservation about violence and sexism towards women. It brought important subjects that are often ignored to the mainstream media. #YesAllWomen gave women a safe space to discuss misogyny, sexism, violence and sexual violence. #YesAllWomen sought to find a solution to misogyny and the violence against women. The movement gave power back to women who have been silenced.

The items in the collection focus on women's stories they told through twitter. The bulk of the items tweets under #YesAllWomen. News articles and documents describes the Isla Vista massacre and explores how it lead to the creation of #YesAllwomen. Articles by major new sites and blogs, such as the New York Times, demonstrates mainstream media was finally discussing important women's and gender's issues. Tweets and articles also show the backlash against the hashtag. The #YesAllWomen collection documents an important movement in activism online and the feminist movement.