The power of social media activism in the #YesAllWomen Movement

Datos Bibliográficos

ID22231925
AutoresMichelle R Kaufman (0000-0003-1901-8676, Johns Hopkins University, autor de correspondencia), Kate Wright (0000-0003-1379-5095, Johns Hopkins University), Rosalyn Shin (Johns Hopkins University), Elise Tirza Ohene-Kyei (0000-0002-1184-2997, Johns Hopkins University), Oluwatimilehin Fatoki (Johns Hopkins University), Tahilin Sanchez Karver (0000-0001-7362-9377, Johns Hopkins University), Carlos Aguirre (0000-0001-7556-8352, Johns Hopkins University), Mark Dredze (0000-0002-0422-2474, Johns Hopkins University), Ayah Zirikly (0000-0002-8441-1741, Johns Hopkins University)
Año2025
Volumen12
Número1
Fecha de publicación2025-09-22
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHumanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/s41599-025-05647-5
OpenAlexW4414388831
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas36

Social media has played a significant role in activism, with hashtags becoming a powerful tool for community organizing and raising awareness about social and political issues. Twitter, now X, supported the rise of hashtag activism. The hashtag #YesAllWomen gained widespread attention in 2014 after the murder of six women in retribution for one man’s feelings of rejection. Women used #YesAllWomen to publicly share experiences with sexism, harassment, and violence and as a space to seek validation and solidarity. This study explored #YesAllWomen tweets to better understand how the hashtag influenced discussions around self-disclosure, support, backlash, and activism regarding violence against women. We sampled publicly available tweets (2014–2021) and found 38,500 #YesAllWomen tweets across 32 countries. We used topic modeling and qualitative analysis to explore meaning and themes. We identified four key themes in the tweets using #YesAllWomen: trepidation; backlash, hatefulness, and trolling; unity and support; and hashtag activism. The most prominent themes expressed a desire and intention to share stories and promote change. Though violence against women remains pervasive, hashtag activism has created an opportunity to promote real movement within individuals and communities through healing, support, and the potential for social change

Feeling · Lived experience · Police brutality · Politics · Qualitative research · Social media · Social movement · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Social Media and Politics