Feminist Hashtag Activism and Digital Counterpublics: #ChallengeAccepted and Un Violador en Tu Camino

This study combines scholarship on the digital counterpublic and feminist standpoint theory to illuminate the emergent and disruptive discourses generated by viral trends #Challenge Accepted and "Un Violador en Tu Camino". I examine how geography, positionality, identity, and standpoint impact the narrative construction of viral posts and videos on Instagram as they flow into new online spaces and their visibility is negotiated. My research illustrates how multiple standpoints are presented within the feminist counterpublic as a result of the different and diverse understandings, experiences and subjectivities counterpublic members possess and the new ways feminist activists, organizers and cultural workers are disrupting mainstream narratives within their own digital feminist networks and communities. The trends I study demonstrate two poles of potentiality for feminist activism on social media. I reveal how online feminist activism can become ensnarled between ineffectual, distorted narratives which stagnate activism and important viral moments where true intersectional solidarity and resistance are achieved.