Breaking the Silence with Social Media Advocacy
Racism towards minorities has always pervaded American history, but with the fear accompanying rising covid cases there's been a disturbing spread in violence towards Asian Americans. Mainstream news coverage only addresses the tip of the iceberg while the number of unresolved attacks continue to mount, causing public outcry from the digital community. This spike in social media advocacy we see today isn’t unprecedented, and by looking at similar, smaller movements we can better understand the way technology has impacted social activism in the present day.
From June to August of 2020 there was a sudden increase in sexual assault allegations within my community of young Asian Americans attending high school or college in NYC. The movement lacked any particular hashtags, so I will be referring to it as “2020 Asam SA,” the name of the personal Instagram folder where I saved associated posts. Rather than being tied to a specific tagline, the phenomenon was categorized by the similar way the posts were structured, the content within the posts, and the impact that they had on the digital community. These stories only circulated around a localized group of Asian Amerians and were unable to penetrate mainstream media, with students from other parts of the United States reporting that they had no prior interactions with the movement.
All of the posts that fall under 2020 Asam SA come directly from Asian American female sexual assault surivors and feature their stories typed onto a notes app or screenshots of text messages from the perpetrators they’re exposing. Posts that feature notes app stories are written from a narrative, first-person perspective and detail how the survivors met the perpetrators, what occured during the moment of sexual assault, and the lasting impact these experiences have had on the survivors themselves. The aim for many of these posts are to clarify what sexual assault actually is, with survivors sharing that “[they] didn’t want to do any of it but [they] thought [they] should because that’s what people do in normal relationships” and that “if you’re getting raped, if you’re getting sexually assaulted and your body responds, it’s still rape and doesn’t change the fact that it’s rape.” Posts that feature screenshots of text messages provide insight into interactions between the perpetrators and victims, showcasing digital evidence. These text messages exemplify microaggressions and the type of language utilized in rape culture without explicitly stating nuances for the viewers. Notable quotes from perpetrators include “A lot of things aren’t legal- doesn’t mean it’s bad.” “After I raped her I almost went to the cops.” “I tapped her bra, shaddup, she prolly punched herself in the stomach.”
To begin understanding this movement I believe that it’s crucial to look at the use of Instagram for social activism. Especially during quarantine social media platforms have become an increasingly popular avenue for communication and connection. According to the article “How to Use Instagram: A Beginner's Guide” by Caroline Forsey, “Instagram is an entirely visual platform. Unlike Facebook, which relies on both text and pictures, or Twitter, which relies on text alone, Instagram's sole purpose is to enable users to share images or videos with their audience.” The app was initially created to share candid moments from people’s lives, but the Instagram we see today has evolved to accommodate corporate sponsorships, visibility for instagram “influencers,” and more relevantly, social media activism. Many activists have found that Instagram’s focus on pictures has allowed social movements to give unfiltered, humanized perspectives into individual cases of injustice and pressure bigger organizations into addressing grievances.
As Asian American females, the survivors who posted in 2020 Asam SA are part of minority communities that have been historically misrepresented by media platforms run by white, heterosexual males. Sexual assault has also taken on a subjective meaning for many people despite it referring to any type of sexual contact a person engages in without the other person’s consent. When stories of sexual assault are spread offline they’re rarely from the survivors themselves and travel in the form of rumors and second hand accounts fraught with personal biases. Social media platforms such as Instagram are one of the only places that these girls can openly share their experiences without censorship and reveal the harassment they’ve endured while combating the distorted accounts from authority figures, people around them, or even the perpetrators themselves. Instagram also allows survivors to share their stories anonymously if preferred and levels the playing ground so that the perpetrators don’t hold as much power over the victims.
2020 Asam SA posts have amassed anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of likes, showing that the movement doesn’t stop at the post itself but at the interaction it garners. The #metoo movement is generally associated with public figures, but the names, locations, and events mentioned in 2020 Asam SA were much more personal. Members of the NYC Asian American community recognized the schools, churches, and people cited in the sexual assault allegations and felt increased responsibility to take action. Instagram story highlights were flooded with reposts uplifting survivor voices while others commented on the posts with supportive messages. Many tagged the instagram handles of figures such as the NYPD, dating apps that allowed unsolicited interactions, and different schools perpetrators were attending.
With modern technological advancements, simply publicizing perpetrators’ names and actions within a community they identify with allows viewers to raise awareness. By observing the 2020 Asam SA movement we can see that there’s a newfound focus on the community’s duty in holding the privileged accountable. Many posts discuss the failure of current institutions to help survivors find closure and the social backlash survivors received following their assault, indicating that 2020 Asam SA provides a viable alternative to traditional methods of seeking justice. This idea also holds true not only for 2020 Asam SA but for the post-covid increase in Asian American violence as well as other social issues that permeate our lives. In the past storytelling had been monopolized by bigger news organizations and corporations, but with today’s technological developments everyone holds the power to share and define truth. Especially amongst marginalized communities, the digital world has become a place to share multifaceted experiences and critique our current societal structures.
