Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the ways young South African feminists employ social media to resist sexual violence, often revealing personal experiences and questioning the implicit acceptance of a gendered status quo by politically powerful women of preceding generations.

Paper long abstract:

The rise of digital activism has transformed the nature of political protests in South Africa. Not only has it changed the way in which political protests are organized and actualized, it has also become a space for young black women to vocalize their dissent. Some of the most attention-grabbing protests that took place in 2015/16—#RapeAtAzania, #RUReferencelist and #RememberKhwezi—were led by young feminists contributing to the ongoing public discourse against sexual violence in the country. Analyzing media articles and twitter posts related to these hashtags, we examine the voices of young feminists as they speak out against sexual violence and seek to identify the challenges facing them as they attempt to articulate their positions. Further, we ask what implications might such actions have on existing anti-violence and feminist movements in South Africa. Are these new forms of feminist activism indicative of an emerging clash between younger and older women and an effort to redefine the boundaries of feminist activism among the post-apartheid generation? Or, are they an attempt by young women to articulate opposition to particular women affiliated to the African National Congress Women's league and the ruling party more generally? We argue that although sexual violence has long plagued South African society, young feminists are engaging and identifying with the issue on a more personal level, often revealing their own encounters with sexual violence, and questioning the politically powerful women of their mothers' and grandmothers' generations implicit acceptance of the gendered status quo.