Towards a Critical Understanding of Social Networks for the Feminist Movement: Twitter and the Women’s Strike

Authors

  • Dafne Calvo University of Valencia (Spain)
  • Eva Campos-Domínguez University of Valladolid (Spain)
  • Iris Simón-Astudillo University of Valladolid (Spain)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51698/tripodos.2021.50p91-109

Keywords:

media ecology, action repertoires, Twitter, social movements, Women’s Strike

Abstract

The intensive use of digital platforms by the feminist movement has been identified as one of its main characteristics. Numerous studies address the tactical use of social networks by this movement, especially on 8 March in Spain. This paper studies the action repertoires of different actors who participated in the 2019 Women’s Strike conversation, including automated accounts. Empirical results demonstrate that Twitter is not an exclusive field for the feminist movement. Along with activists who promoted and informed the Women’s Strike, political parties proposed concrete policy measures, and conservative factions criticized the movement calling for demobilization. In this sense, for the first time in these M8 mobilizations, bots participated in this polarisation of the debate through partisan hashtags and the dissemination of fake news. The investigation thus confirms that automation techniques and contradictory flows of power are critical elements to understand the real potential of social networks for feminist social change.

Author Biographies

Dafne Calvo, University of Valencia (Spain)

Dafne Calvo (dafne.calvo@uv.es) is PhD in Communication. With several stays in international research centers, she has worked as a team member in different competitive research projects at the national level since 2014 to investigate technologies’ political use from a critical viewpoint. She combines her academic activity with collaboration in various journalistic productions, meetings, and events on free culture.

Eva Campos-Domínguez, University of Valladolid (Spain)

Eva Campos-Domínguez (eva.campos@uva. es) is PhD in Communication and PhD with distinction at the Complutense University of Madrid, Fellowship of Parliament for PhD’s researches. Currently, she is professor in the degree, postgraduate and doctorate in Journalism Studies at University of Valladolid. Her main research area is the Parliamentary cyberdemocracy, Political Communication & Online Journalism. She has studied the development of Parliamentary Communication Congress of Deputies of Spain on the Internet from 2004 to the present.

Iris Simón-Astudillo, University of Valladolid (Spain)

Iris Simón-Astudillo (iris.simon@alumnos. uva.es) is a PhD candidate in Communication at the University of Valladolid. She has previously studied a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Communication Research as a HistoricalSocial Agent at the same university. Her main research interests involve issues related to social networks, participation, and gender studies.

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2021-07-01 — Updated on 2021-07-04

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Calvo , D., Campos-Domínguez, E. ., & Simón-Astudillo, I. . (2021). Towards a Critical Understanding of Social Networks for the Feminist Movement: Twitter and the Women’s Strike. Tripodos, (50), 91-109. https://doi.org/10.51698/tripodos.2021.50p91-109 (Original work published July 1, 2021)

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