Ella Chivers' NOWSA review

Hilary Bowman-Smart and her co-presenter Rebekah* filled their presentation ‘Social Media and Feminism’ with more pictures of cats than written words. It was the second-to-last day of NOWSA, and I think everyone present at the workshop was emotionally drained enough to appreciate taking regular five-second breaks to see a tiny Russian Blue play with a ball of yarn. I had shown up wondering whether I would finally gain access to the underground workings of tumblr, but the cats seemed far more soothing to my weary mind. In fact, Hilary and Rebekah weren’t there to show us how to set up a new Twitter account, and the cats were actually relevant to their point – in a way.


You may have heard of Hilary’s brainchild, the Australian Cat Ladies. Back in April Hilary noticed that the Australian Christian Lobby had left the domain name australianchristianlobby.org unregistered, which meant that it was open for anyone to move in and claim the space as their own. Hilary seized the opportunity to hit back at the group, who are often extreme with their conservative social values. (Most recently they claimed that supporting marriage equality “sets up a new Stolen Generation” as it "ignored the consequence of robbing children of their biological identity through same-sex surrogacy and other assisted reproductive technology"). Sporting a fantastic rainbow logo and plenty of cartoon kittens, the Australian Cat Ladies took over the lobby group’s domain name and advocated for body autonomy, sex education, same sex marriage and ‘frequent tummy rubs’. The website went viral on social media after it’s launch, and clicked 260,000 views overnight.


The Australian Cat Ladies became an internet sensation because it managed to undermine the authority of one of Australia’s largest and most powerful lobby groups in a humorous and non-aggressive way. It gave people a punch-the-air moment as they discussed it over Facebook, or laughed about it at the pub with friends – and this is the heart of Hilary and Rebekah’s point. In contrast to academic theorizing (which can be quite exclusionary for those who do not have the time or inclination to sit down and read lengthy discussions over lofty concepts), this particular stream of feminist thought springs organically from the ideas and frustrations of women across the world with much less regard to their life situation or background. Like graffiti reclaims the streets, the internet can be a place for all women to take control over the tone of social commentary and hijack the public narrative with their own values or perspectives. Rebekah and Hilary argue that we should take these ideas and movements seriously – even as seriously as we often take academic writing – as they are anthropological markers of our own society and culture.


While I broadly agreed with the pair on most points, throughout the workshop I found there was an underlying assumption that the internet acts as some sort of over-riding ‘equalizer’ which is blind to race, gender or sexuality, and I thought that this was problematic. Anyone who has found themselves constantly referred to as a ‘he’ on reddit can attest to the fact that, outside of the safe spaces where autonomous groups have pooled, it is often simply assumed that every individual behind the computer screen is a white middle-class male. If you happen to ‘out’ yourself as a member of a minority group, it is not uncommon to be hounded or harassed, and you may find yourself treated differently because of the perceived change in persona.


One prominent example of this was the uproar caused when it was revealed that a woman named Elise Andrew was behind the popular I F*cking Love Science Facebook group. Andrew innocently posted a link to her twitter page, and received a poop-tsunami of responses to her ‘unexpected’ gender, including: "F.ck me! This is a babe ?!!", "holy hell, youre a HOTTIE!" and "you mean you're a girl, AND you're beautiful? wow, i just liked science a lil bit more today ^^". ** The presence of these inherent prejudices online means that it can still be difficult for many people to speak up about social issues for the fear that they may be shouted down by the hive mind, and this closes up discussion whilst maintaining systematic oppression.


Despite these issues, Hilary and Rebekah make some valid points around the shifting nature of feminist discourse, and I left their workshop with a thoughtful mind. Online actions like the Australian Cat Ladies website are becoming pivotal aspects to all social movement, and I think we should be reminding ourselves of their worth in getting our ideas out or staging an opposition to those values we dispute.


I also liked all the cats.

* Note: to the best of my knowledge, Rebekah didn’t give a last name.

** Quotes from The Guardian.