Our stories matter: storytelling and social justice in the Hollaback! movement

ABSTRACT

As feminist and anti-racist scholars and activists have long known, which stories predominate and which are marginalised is always a question of power and authority – about who is entitled to speak, and who has the authority to decide the meanings of words and actions. Storytelling can be used as a tool for social justice, as exemplified by the international feminist movement Hollaback! and its regional and worldwide struggle to end street harassment and make public spaces accessible for everyone. This article examines the practice of sharing stories within one specific Hollaback! group, highlighting the timeliness of the online storytelling technologies promoted by the movement and considering this work as an example of extra-academic feminist education. The article concludes by questioning to what extent feminists manage to formulate their own localised struggles through storytelling within the feminist movement as a whole.

KEYWORDS:

• Street harassment
• storytelling
• globalisation
• social movements
• technology
• activism

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Nadine Jassat and Rahnuma Hassan for providing helpful comments on this article, and to the other Hollabackers for your great work and friendship. Thanks also to all the feminists who have shared their stories of harassment, who have listened, supported and continued to work for change.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A social movement, as defined by Sidney Tarrow, is not the same as a political party or advocacy group. Rather, social movements are contentious and better defined as ‘collective challenges, based on common purposes and social solidarities, in sustained interaction with elites, opponents, and authorities’ (2011, 57) – such as the civil rights, anti-globalisation and feminist movements such as Hollaback!

2. These figures are from November 2015 (‘FAQ’s’ 2015). In June 2015, Hollaback! existed in 92 sites (most commonly cities), 32 countries and in 18 different languages across the world, which shows a decrease in the number of active groups in only a few months.

3. TED (short for Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks are parts of recurring conferences taking place around the world to share ideas and knowledge, run by a non-profit organisation.

4. According to the UK housing and homelessness charity Shelter, one in five disabled Scots has experienced harassment because of their disability (‘Harassment if you’re disabled’ 2015).

5. See Fileborn (2014, 36–37) for statistics of street harassment in other studies.