TWITTER RESISTANCE AND DIGITAL TESTIMONIO(S) IN 140 CHARACTERS: RESTORING THE COMPLEXITY OF MEXICO’S HASHTAG FEMINISM

Abstract

Despite the conceptual recognition and initial developments in the field of digital activism, the analysis of hashtag activism remains largely unproductive; focusing primarily on the western English-speaking world and deriving premature blanket conclusions about its potential to create social change. This work is an in-depth analysis of Twitter-based hashtag feminism in the context of Mexico; focusing on three specific hashtags: #SiMeMatan [If They Kill Me], #VivasNosQueremos [We Want Us Alive] and #MiPrimerAcoso [My First Assault] and different narratives that form around them. Narrative studies offer a promising approach into restoring the complexity of specific cultural and legal contexts and the ruptures hashtag activism creates in response to systemic dysfunctionalities. The findings reveal there exist differences in function and purpose of hashtagged narratives—signaling that there are different, non-traditional paths to producing social change we need to acknowledge and grapple with. These paths are paved from Latin America to Southeast Asia, and more case studies - beyond this one- are needed to restore their complexity.