ABSTRACT

When #MeToo exploded onto social media in October 2017, it dramatically ruptured public consciousness in revealing the widespread nature of sexual harassment and violence around the world. Yet, despite the global attention afforded to #MeToo, it was preceded by numerous initiatives, which we argue created digital footprints instrumental in rendering #MeToo intelligible. As such, the aim of this article is two-fold. Firstly, it offers the first attempt to map a diverse range of initiatives which have mobilized to fight sexual violence, and in doing so, makes visible the global genealogy of digital feminist activism responding to sexualised violence. Secondly, building on these digital footprints and looking towards the future of digital feminist activism, the article demonstrates the power and potential of initiatives that expose the structural conditions enabling sexual violence to occur through the collective sharing of experiences across cybernetworks via processes of “ethical witnessing.” We conclude by advocating for greater recognition of those voices and experiences that feminist scholars and activists alike continue to fail to witness and call for greater efforts to archive the genealogy of digital feminist mobilisation in order to capture the complexity and diversity of its past, present and future.

摘要

当#MeToo 于 2017 年 10 月在社交媒体上爆发时，它极大地打破了公众意识，揭示了世界各地普遍存在的性骚扰和暴力性质。然而，尽管#MeToo 引起了全球关注，但在此之前有许多举措，我们认为这些举措创造了有助于使#MeToo 变得可理解的数字足迹。因此，本文的目的有两个。首先，它首次尝试绘制各种动员起来打击性暴力的倡议，并在此过程中展示了应对性暴力的数字女权主义行动主义的全球谱系。其次，在这些数字足迹的基础上，展望数字女权主义活动的未来，这篇文章展示了通过“道德见证”过程在网络网络中集体分享经验，揭示使性暴力发生的结构性条件的举措的力量和潜力。最后，我们主张更多地承认女权主义学者和活动家仍然未能见证的那些声音和经历，并呼吁加大力度归档数字女权主义动员的谱系，以捕捉其过去、现在和未来。