Disclosing gender-based violence online: strengthening feminist collective agency or creating further vulnerabilities?

Abstract

The withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention (in March 2021) and the high prevalence of gender-based violence reflect the current patriarchal political atmosphere in Turkey. Such backlash occurred despite the strong feminist resistance and transnational support to combat anti-gender developments. In this political climate, online disclosures of gender-based violence have become critical in shaping public debates about violence against women in Turkey. In the last decade, we have witnessed a movement similar to #MeToo, whereby women shared their experiences of gender-based violence on Twitter. This paper is about six of these disclosures and how they formed networked feminist counterpublics. Through a qualitative study of our participants´ lived experiences of online disclosures, we aim to illustrate what responses and reactions they encountered in online spaces, how these reactions and responses affected their well-being, what online spaces offered to them to counteract their victimisation, and, finally, how these online disclosures contributed to feminist collective consciousness and agency in Turkey. Our findings reveal dual consequences of disclosing gender-based violence online, where these networked feminist counterpublics bring together the excluded stories and challenge the mainstream public knowledge, and yet, at the same time, result in backlashes and digital vulnerabilities.