How To Make Your Newsfeed More Intersectional
Collage by: Nahomy Ortiz-Garcia
Four Ways To Make Your Newsfeed More Intersectional
1. Follow people outside your socioeconomic level
There are many social media trends that enhance the concept of socioeconomic status. An individual’s ability to connect online and produce popular material can be strongly influenced by two factors.
a. Their ability to access resources b. The quality of the resources they have available to them
This disadvantage can manifest itself in a lot of ways. For online creators with lower socioeconomic status, it could mean they are working with older, lower quality cameras or do not have access to the best/newest editing software. They could have crappy internet connection or no internet connection at their house. They may not even have access to a computer.
If you are like, “anybody can access the internet and therefore it is an even platform”, think again. If you love reading and BookTube, consider how many BookTubers post monthly book hauls or TBR vlogs. If you love beauty vlogs, consider all the makeup/clothes/hair-care hauls that beauty gurus regularly post. If you are a foodie, consider how people of a lower socioeconomic status may feel about joining in on trends like What I Ate Wednesday.
Socioeconomic status affects the content that people can produce and therefore it affects people’s ability to be a popular online creators.
Tip: Use different types of social media. While more image based social media (like YouTube) can be warped with concepts of advantage, text based social media (like twitter) can provide more of a level playing field.
2. Listen to women all over the world
Hypothetically, if you were going to be the best feminist on earth, you would travel the entire planet and listen to what every woman has to say. Although, this sounds like a great idea, who has the time (or even the funds) to do this? However, we all have the opportunity to listen to the voices of people who live overseas and include their perspectives in future discussions of feminism. It is called the worldwide web for a reason!
Tip: Learn about the political situations in countries outside your own. It is very easy just to simply focus on what is happening in our own countries but we live in a global era. Depending on what social media site you use, tags that you could use to get started are ukpol, auspol and nzpol. Another way would be to follow global non-government organizations to expand your worldview.
3. Make a conscious effort to include marginalised groups in your newsfeed
There are so many groups of people who are marginalised in society and a lot of this carried over to online spaces. As an intersectional feminist, you should make an effort to understand the thoughts and concerns of women regardless of race, religion, physical/mental health or sexuality.
Feminism in the past has been criticized for it is lack of inclusivity and how it promotes the needs of only a “certain kind of woman” (historically, white, able-bodied, straight, middle class women). If the feminist movement is going to progress forward, we need to make a conscious effort to listen to diverse voices. It can often be uncomfortable to listen to other people, especially if their opinions differ from your own. However, you have only ever been one person in this world (yourself, duh!) and people’s views on feminism are often shaped by personal experiences.
Tip: By making a conscious effort to seek out marginalised voices, you can increase your knowledge as a feminist. It is very easy to know nothing about certain communities if their issues have been downplayed or simply ignored by mainstream media. Use tags on social media to find and follow these groups!
4. Make an effort not to ignore voices you do not agree with.
In the world of social media, it is very easy to ignore voices. This can be done through a block or an unfollow. Whenever you come across a voice that you disagree with it, it is easy to hit the unfollow button and say goodbye to that Twitter profile/Tumblr blog forever!
However, should you really do that? Social media can be known for creating a bubble. It can amplify the voices that you agree with and cancel out voices that you disagree with. However, exposure to different voices and opinions can be a positive thing. It can open up a dialogue and start a conversation that will cause you to think critically about your own beliefs and expand your worldview to help understand yourself and others more.
Tip: To help with this, we suggest the three strike rule. For this, we suggest that you give any social media account three chances in the space of a week. Three strikes and they are out!