Internet Research 16, 2015

1. Imagining the social justice warrior
Ruth A Deller
(r.a.deller@shu.ac.uk @ruthdeller)

2. Tagging and #sjw ‘wars’
• #gamergate
• #notyourshield; #yourslipisshowing
• #yesallwomen; #notallmen
• #blacklivesmatter; #iftheygunnedmedown
• #everydaysexism
• #checkyourprivilege
• #diecisscum
• #freethenipple
• Vs #mra #meninism #swm #terf … and more

3. Most people hadn’t heard of a “social
justice warrior” until about a year ago,
when it emerged as the preferred term
among the Gamergate movement for
the people they believed to be their
greatest enemies… More than 20 years
ago, the term was generally used as a
neutral or even complimentary
describer… There are a few negative
uses that pop up, like a 2007 anti-
multiculturalism editorial… But the
balance is overall positive…. the year
2011 seemed to be a turning point.
(Ohlheiser 2015)

41. Vs
?

42. Imagining
• Space for LGBTQ+ identities (Oakley 2015; Renninger 2015;
• Space for teens and younger adults (Bury et al 2013; Deller 2015;
• Space of play (Tiidenberg 2012)
• ‘You meet many different people, see absolutely [sic] and feel absolutely
beautiful things, experience things that wouldn’t happen in your wildest
dreams and learn the most useful, weirdest and craziest things. Tumblr
gives us the opportunity to connect unlike any other platform out there.’
(Songbird8 in Renninger 2015: 1520)
• Tumblr as ‘policed’ or mocked by Reddit and other platforms (Deller 2015;
Renninger 2015)

55. Imagining
• Sites of trolling and antagonism – ‘toxic technoculture’ (Massanari
2015. See also Phillips 2015; Bergstrom 2011)
• But with feminist, LGBTQIA+ and other (counter)publics (Renninger
2015; Bergstrom 2015)
• Sites of play (Massanari 2015; Shifman 2013)
• 4chan – anarchic, ‘chaotic’, yet also policed. Memes as cultural
capital and ‘discursive weapons’ (Nissenbaum and Shifman 2015.
See also Bernstein et al 2011; Trammell 2014)
• Seen as male oriented (Milner 2013; Renninger 2015)