Why #notallmen is more important than #yesallwomen will ever be

/ zaramcdonald / 8 Comments

I was once a staunch believer in the power of a hashtag.

Give someone the internet, and you’re giving them a kind of voice no amount of vocal cords can produce. One that has the ability to reach masses. One that can unite a community of voices to form a choir of empowered subjects.

There’s little wonder why #yesallwomen nearly broke the internet this week. Because collectively, women have had enough. Yes. All women. Every last one.

And so, women flocked to social media and created one unified, empowered chorus. Hitting back at misogynistic ramblings and sexist musings.

And for a fleeting moment, it seemed progress was possible. That a hashtag carried weight.

 

14113484997_eea5987ac6_oImage via Wendy Sachs

Until #notallmen was started. And many sought to dismantle the conversation.

The fact that #notallmen completely and embarrassingly missed the mark isn’t even the most tragic point here.

The tragedy lies in the fact we are putting all our energy into raising awareness of pressing issues over Twitter, set to achieve what exactly?

Empowerment? Maybe. Awareness? Probably.

But despite all our efforts to fight against sexism, #yesallwomen was still met with resistance. We were forced to recognise that a hashtag carries little power, unable to open the narrow mindsets of the dogged misogynists.

Because many still didn’t understand the cause.

And so, we learnt a lot this week from #notallmen.

We learnt that a hashtag doesn’t educate.

We learnt that a hashtag doesn’t eradicate ignorance.

And we learnt that a hashtag won’t change years of oppression.

Years of enduring men, like that of the ill-fated Elliot Rodger, who believe that women owe them something.

We learnt to effectively fight these #notallmen attitudes, we can’t put every ounce of our time, energy and faith into social media. Global conversations can only get us so far. Awareness can only get us so far.

Clementine Ford, writer for Daily Life, wrote on her blog:

“I am afraid of you, the man who refuses to listen to the experience of women, instead arguing that ‘not all men’ are like that… You are pretending that the frustration of being treated with caution is equal to the frustration of having to be cautious.”

And she’s right. #notallmen are the ones we should be afraid of. The ones who won’t be divorced from their ignorance after reading a single tweet.

Because a hashtag isn’t education. Education is education. And that will always have a bigger impact.

Why we should never tire of calling out sexism in the media

/ zaramcdonald / 1 Comment

This week, it was Amanda Wilson. Last week, it was Jill Abramson. And next week? Your guess is as good as mine.

But what can we both can agree on? There will be someone.

They may not be in the public eye, they may not speak about it and they may not even be heard. But there will be someone.

Because these two tales of editors suffering from the plight of deeply entrenched sexism aren’t exceptions. They’re flirting dangerously close to being the rule.

And that’s not the worst part about it.

The worst part is, I don’t have any mind-blowing, earth shattering and world-changing comments to make about it. Because I know you’ve heard them all before.

And that’s what terrifies me the most. We’re becoming almost immune to the whistleblowers. The one’s calling out sexism.

Women who don’t want more than you. Women who don’t want to take anything from you. Women who just want what you have. Seeking equality. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Ken Auletta at the New Yorker believes that for Abramson, inquiries she made about unequal pay were her downfall.

And for Wilson? The word pushy was thrown around a bit.

Renowned journalists de-throned not because of their writing, or professionalism, but their management skills. Or so they say.

5558757676_529ac94e39_o

Barbara Walters’ retirement poses questions regarding how much has really changed since her reign began.

Image: Theodora & Callum via Creative Commons

 There’s no doubt this is a tough one, though. We can harp, and yell and demand equality. We can applaud when Wilson says,”the mere fact of being a woman in the job attracts a vicious backlash”.

But it’s nearing a tragic cliché to call out the media industry for being sexist. For using the feminist tag-line.

Despite this, I’m not for a second suggesting the sole cause of Abramson’s departure was her gender. Nor am I suggesting that Wilson’s short reign at the top comes down to being a female. But there does seem to be a worrying trend, and one that we can’t deny.

It’s not easy for a woman accused of being an authoritarian leader to figure out how much of that accusation comes down to truth, and what part is sexist. What isn’t difficult to recognise, however, is that something needs to change.

And although Barbara Walters carved, defined and cemented her way through an industry much more inclined to dabble with patriarchy, the fact that people are still hitting back at calls of sexism, arguing an over-reaction, means the issue is yet to be fully understood.

Because if society understood what it is was women were fighting for, they couldn’t possibly be against it.

 

Is social media selective in who it pioneers?

/ zaramcdonald / 4 Comments

It didn’t take very long for the hashtag #MH370 to start trending.

And why wouldn’t it?

The tragic and inexplicable disappearance of over 200 innocent people is enough to demand the public outpouring of fear, distress and utter confusion that erupted across the world. Add the suggestion of evil and foul play? Incoming deep, worldwide curiosity.

Social media became obsessed and MH370 became the topic of the month. Maybe even the year.

So why did it take over two weeks for #bringbackourgirls to demand that same reaction?

Michelle Obama supporting #bringbackourgirls.

Image: Nina Matthews via Creative Commons

The facts are scarily similar. Over 200 young and innocent Nigerian girls disappear, without question at the hands of insurmountable evil. And for the best part of a week, the case was largely ignored.

Why?

Because how could we possibly relate?

It’s no secret that mass kidnappings are far removed from the kind of day to day happenings in the society we live in. Our fears and our worries are a little more ‘first world’ than that.

And so, in that tragic week, social media exposed one of society’s greatest flaws: Our ability to install an armoured, steel plated wall between us and the crime. Our inability to feel empathy for situations we decide we won’t magine.

Sure, news agencies didn’t do the kidnappings justice either. And we could absolutely hide behind that. We’re citizens in a suffocating vortex of mass consumption, and news arguably caters for stories we want, rather than need.

It’s also perfectly feasible to believe social media is only selective because media moguls are.

But the simple and blunt bottom line is that we aren’t media moguls. We don’t share those same motivations.

We are objective citizens. And social networks exist as tools to engage us. To empower us. To re-democratise our land.

Social media may not have directly saved those innocent Nigerian girls from being victims of extreme political violence. From becoming the smallest of cogs in one great terrorist machine.

But it may have been enough to expose very early on the failings of mass media, and the notion that they’re not the only ones who can call society to arms. To get government attention.

Bring Back Our Girls Campaign Organizer Hadiza Bala Usman spoke to the BBC:

“It is not clear why the rescue operation is not making headway”.

But it is clear. We had the power, much earlier, to make this a global issue.

And although #bringbackourgirls came. And saw. And spread.

Maybe it came too late.