Popular feminist websites, intimate publics, and feminist knowledge about sexual violence

ABSTRACT

This article presents a qualitative analysis of conversations about rape in the comments sections of two popular feminist websites: Jezebel and xoJane. Focussing on comment threads about first-hand experiences of sexual violence and problematic heterosex, I show that commenters produced an analysis of rape as on a continuum with less extreme forms of sexual coercion, as heterogeneous and as a predictable product of heterosexual norms. I argue that the intimate publics fostered by popular feminist websites enable such conversations to take place. Intimate publics presuppose consumers who share an emotional literacy based in similar life experiences: commenters assumed fellow consumers of popular feminist media possessed the emotional literacy to comprehend rape stories which did not follow the hegemonic rape script. Thus, popular feminist intimate publics may provide a forum for conversations about sexual violence which resemble feminist consciousness-raising as a mode of knowledge production. However, misogynists may seek out such conversations to engage participants in debate. Thus, digital commenting platforms which facilitate the exclusion of disruptive or abusive commenters provide essential context for feminist intimate publics to flourish. Participants also contribute to the construction of feminist intimate publics by communicating empathy and affect, and by policing trolls.

KEYWORDS:

• Popular feminism
• intimate publics
• consciousness-raising
• sexual violence
• digital misogyny

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Comments are archived here: https://disqus.com/home/discussion/xojane/why_i_talk_about_rape/#comment-421191383.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carol Harrington

Carol Harrington is a senior lecturer in the School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She lectured in the Central European University Political Science Department from 1998 to 2007. Her research concerns politics and policy on violence against women, sexual violence, and sex work. She teaches courses on sociology of violence, sexuality, and comparative welfare regimes. In addition to her book, Politicization of Sexual Violence from Abolitionism to Peacekeeping, she has published articles on anti-sex trafficking policy in Bosnia and Kosovo; on gender expertise within peacekeeping operations; on sex work knowledge politics in Timor Leste, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand; and on rape narratives on YouTube. E-mail: [email protected]