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#WomenBoycottTwitter: Did It Make A Difference, Or Did Women Silence Their Voice?

The movement might be sending the wrong message.

By Christina St-JeanPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Anytime people are banding together to fight a common cause for the greater good, I'm intrigued. The #WomenBoycottTwitter movement, which occurred Friday Oct. 13, definitely has me intrigued, but it's also got me concerned.

Anytime anyone engages with a social media platform, there are choices to be made. I tell students all the time to use their powers for good when it comes to social media, but certainly, that doesn't always happen. Trolls exist, both in the real world and particularly online. People don't seem to be able to do two things: to allow people to express potentially different opinions from their own and to not be nasty when someone expresses that different opinion.

As a woman, I've been disgusted by the comments flying back and forth on social media anytime anyone expresses an opinion. I've received, on occasion, rather nasty remarks, which were reported to the appropriate people and nothing was done. I understand that, with the #WomenBoycottTwitter movement, both men and women alike are pushing for something to change as far as how women are treated, and that's a very good thing. Women who are speaking out about sexual harassment and assault need to be supported and believed, and the trolls who are making comments about how weak they are need to ask themselves if they would make the same comments if that was their sister, mother or God forbid, the children in their lives who were speaking out against sexual abuses and harassment.

I think in many respects the #WomenBoycottTwitter movement was an excellent idea; it got people talking and there were all sorts of individuals who are far more public figures than I could ever be putting some real power behind the movement. It got people angry that abuses such as those involving the various powerbrokers of the world were even allowed to happen, or allowed to continue to happen. Men were even starting to talk about the harassment and abuse they've been exposed to over the years, and all of this leads to some very important discussions that need to continue to occur.

However, where #WomenBoycottTwitter raises some eyebrows for me is the fact that we do encourage people to speak about their sexual abuses or harassment, and people are willingly silencing themselves. I get the point that was trying to be made - rules need to be changed on social media so it's a far safer playground for all of us - but there's a problem when we basically say that we aren't going to talk. I know there's money made by Twitter with every post and so forth, and taking some of that money away from them is designed to send a message, but isn't a refusal to maintain an important dialogue, even for a day, also sending a message?

Doesn't it tell all those people - men and women alike - that you shouldn't say anything?

That's where I'm torn.

Granted, I am perhaps overthinking #WomenBoycottTwitter a bit. That said, there continued to be trolls online, talking about how it's the most "pitiful & hilarious feminist temper tantrum" in the Twitterverse. What I would like to see, ideally, are some sort of statistics that would indicate #WomenBoycottTwitter was actually successful - that Twitter's bottom line actually took a bit of a hit because of all the men and women who refused to tweet yesterday.

I'd like to see the social media companies decide that online trolls who make awful, degrading comments about people who post need to be banned or suspended, regardless of who they are.

Social media is a powerful tool, and while #WomenBoycottTwitter was an important daylong Twitter ban, I'm not entirely certain that it was the best thing to do in a world where so many struggle to have their voices heard in the first place.

activismcelebritiescontroversiesfeaturehumanityopinionpop culturesocial mediatechnology
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About the Creator

Christina St-Jean

I'm a high school English and French teacher who trains in the martial arts and works towards continuous self-improvement.

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