#destroythejoint

When shock jock Alan Jones infamously said women were ‘destroying the joint’, a social media movement was born that lead to an activist organization, real social change involving advertising being withdrawn from Jones’ program, a new level of awareness around the idea of misogyny and even a book.

  The hashtag #destroythejoint began after media personality, Jane Caro (2013) tweeted “Got time on my hands tonight so thought I’d spend it coming up with new ways of “destroying the joint” being a woman & all. Ideas welcome.” (@janecaro, 2012) in response to Jones’ comments.

  #destroythejoint then trended widely on social media and soon, a real life feminist activist group named ‘Destroy The Joint’ was born and Caro published a book of feminist essays by the same name. Author of one of these essays, Penny Wong, writes “The hashtag destroyingthejoint signalled enough … an underlying frustration with our society’s dominant voice that erupted in an online roar of ‘You don’t speak for me!” (Wong, 2013).

  In terms of activism, the hashtag has been successful in raising feminist awareness. According to Caro “The playfulness of the Destroy the Joint moment moved activism and feminism, she believes, beyond where it usually resides.”(Razer, 2013)

  It is easy to view this case study as a complete argument for the merits of social media for activism, however while it has succeded in generating discussion, it would be interesting to see what other parts of the feminist agenda it has advanced. For example, since the movement are women getting paid more, or are they receiving more job opportunities, has there been a measurable decrease in mysogonist chatter?

  If not, the movement could be reduce to simple ‘slacktivism’, a word for or social media activism that can be defined as superficial, minimal effort in support of causes (Gladwell, 2010). Morosov (2009) describes it even more harshly as ‘feel good activism that has zero political or social impact’ but creates ‘an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining Facebook group’

  Both Morotov and Gladwell have a point, as a social media user I can reaffirm my feminism by simply adding a hashtag to a tweet. Feminism? Check. Furthermore I can do this without really engaging in feminist discourse.

  Another criticism of social media activism is the insularity of hashtag activism, or ‘social media as an echo chamber’ (Annear, 2013). In some way, this style of activism is akin to a group of politically minded folk talking about their views on the phone without  engaging anybody else. Not everybody has twitter – so while it is a powerful tool, is it the best place to start a social movement?

Both sides of the debate on social media activism, and time will tell whether it will be a positive step toward the future of social change, or whether our hashtags are simply here to #destroy thejoint. 

   References

Annear, R., 2013,  Hashtag Feminism: ‘Destroying the joint’, The Monthly, May edition, http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/may/1366950579/robyn-annear/hashtag-feminism

@janecaro,3 2012, “Got time on my hands tonight so thought I’d spend it coming up with new ways of “destroying the joint” being a woman & all. Ideas welcome.”, Twitter Post, August 31,

Gladwell, M., 2010Small change. The New Yorker, 4 October. Retrieved from http://www. newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell

Morozov, E., The Brave New World of Slacktivism, Foreign Policy (blog), 19 May http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism

 Razer, H., 2013, Destroying the point, Sydney Morning Herald, May 19, http://www.smh.com.au/national/destroying-the-point-20130518-2jtgh.html

"The body's reaction to being threatened (not just flight or fight, but also freezing in the face of danger) is something that can influence the way each of us deals with being threatened, especially in an intimate setting.  If you don't know your limits, and thus can't articulate them, your body gets the message across however it can.  That can mean lying completely still, numbed, and waiting for it to end.  I have been there."

"We don't discuss what to do when we are touched inappropriately or made to feel uncomfortable, and how incredibly brave and frightening it is to stand up and yell.  These things certainly aren't given time in school.  We are given seminars on self-esteem and self-defence, but no time is given to the wider reality of being a girl: that we are constantly taught to feel weak and afraid, and that we aren't given reason to talk about this or what we're feeling.  For these reasons, and many more, I worry."

From the age of 15 to 20 I was in two serious, long term relationships, one after the other. I kidded myself that because the start of the second was 'casual' and began when I had just begun college that I knew all about what being a young, single girl was like.  Like all other girls I had experienced sleazy men hitting on me in nightclubs but I thought the reason that nothing had happened to me that made me feel uncomfortable or put me in a compromising situation was because I was smart and better than other girls that those things happen to.  I believed (as we're taught to) that if you 'do the right thing' and wear the right clothes and don't create an image of you as a slut, then nothing bad will ever happen to you.

Before you punch the computer screen, I wholeheartedly admit that my entire mindset was incredibly naive and condescending towards a huge amount of girls and their experiences.  Despite framing my opinions in a different light, I was subconsciously blaming them.

About six months ago, maybe more, I started to understand the position that way too many girls are put in because I found myself there too.

And I froze.

I found myself in a number of situations where instead of saying no, it was easier to say yes, or just go with it.  Or instead of hosing them down or yelling a perfectly worded, 'modern woman's rights' speech, I said absolutely nothing, just moved my body away from theirs or mumbled a small protest which was often repeated (and ignored) multiple times.

As a smart, strong, educated and empowered woman, you're expected to just be able to deal with these situations.  In a liberal, western environment, we're told we're sexually liberated, allowed to control our bodies as we please, don't have to do anything with anyone regardless of what we might have insinuated we would do.  And time after time, we're told to stand up for ourselves and don't take anyone's shit, but what about when we can't?

There is a special kind of shame felt when you can't live up to your own expectations.  When the standards you thought you held yourself to crumble beneath you.  You think to yourself, 'I'm so much better than this, how can I not voice what I really want to say?'.  You fuzzily play the scenario over in your head, focusing only on how their actions made you feel and when you should have done or said something, ANYTHING.  

I know I've been in this situation, I know my friends have and I know collectively, we've shrugged or laughed it off.  I know sometimes, we've sought the guy's attention again, and I'm writing about this now because I want to acknowledge how complex these situations can be, how hard they are to deal with, especially in the moment, and how confused they can make you feel.  The gap between between wanting to stone the guy to death and pretending it never even happened isn't actually that big and the way you dealt with what occurred, doesn't reflect the kind of person you are.

So what I'm saying is, continue supporting your friends, continue your roaring about how completely unacceptable it is for one person to make another feel uncomfortable and helpless, especially in such an intimate setting but when you or your friends find yourselves unable to take a stand, be gentle and think of how frightening it is to do so.  Perhaps find another way to make your voice felt heard.  If it helps, do it here.  Post what you wish you could have said or done when you felt so completely powerless that you froze.

Because I've been there and no matter how much rage I have for all forms of sexual abuse, intimidation and coercion, #ifroze

TONY JONES: Tony Abbott, on another matter, have you met Archbishop Pell during the election campaign?

TONY ABBOTT: Not that I can recall.

TONY JONES: Not that you can recall, because we believe that you've had at least one meeting with him quite recently. You don't recall that?

TONY ABBOTT: Well, when? Where?

TONY JONES: At the presbytery in Sydney.

TONY ABBOTT: Ah, actually now that you do mention it, I did meet with Cardinal Pell. So what? Why shouldn't I meet with Cardinal Pell?

TONY JONES: Why couldn't you recall meeting him, I think, 10 days ago?

TONY ABBOTT: Look, whenever it was, so what? Why shouldn't I meet Cardinal Pell. Cardinal Pell is a fine man. He made a very good statement the other day about the Labor Party's policy, why shouldn't I meet with him?...

TONY JONES: What issues were discussed?

TONY ABBOTT: Well, Tony, I may well have been going to confession to Cardinal Pell, I may well have been seeking pastoral counseling from Cardinal Pell. What's so sinister about that?

Cardinal Pell is one of the greatest churchmen that Australia has seen. I am a very imperfect Catholic. Why shouldn't I go and seek counsel? Why shouldn't I go and trespass on the time occasionally of someone like Cardinal Pell.

If you spent more time with Cardinal Pell, your life might be more interesting.

- Tony Abbott interviewed on ABC's Lateline

"[We need] to make sure that we go straight out of Question Time... without waffly ministerial statements on things like the accessibility of cinemas." - Tony Abbott, stating how he would "clean up" Question Time in parliament by getting rid of discussion of disability access.

"It was certainly disappointing that he made reference to something that affects people who are blind, who have impaired vision. To make a comment like that takes the shine off." - Michael Simpson, Vision Australia