#mda200921

Fast fashion is a global and profitable business. The industry is categorised by fast production and distribution on a mass level. Many fashion retailers fall under this umbrella, including Zara, H&M, Cotton On, Shein, Fashion Nova etc. These stores produce a large quantity of clothing, often with little consideration for ethical concerns. For example, these practices have devastating consequences for the environment. Estimates place the global industry as a producer of 10% of the world's carbon emissions. The short lifecycle of fast fashion clothing also means that a significant amount of textile waste is produced. Additionally, due to the industry producing such a massive amount of clothing, resources are stripped from the environment at an unsustainable rate. Furthermore, as Kristen Leo observes in her YouTube video, 'Fast Fashion Explained in Under 5 Minutes' (2018), fast fashion also regularly uses exploits cheap labour in its production cycle, relying on sweatshop labour to fulfil demand at a low price. Workers in these factories are often employed at meagre wages and work in poor conditions.

In response to the ethical concerns posed by the fast fashion industry, the slow fashion movement has emerged. The slow fashion industry acts as the antithesis of fast fashion, focused on using sustainable materials and practices to produce durable clothing in smaller amounts. As Brewer (2019 p. 7) comments, "firms in the slow fashion movement promote sustainability in sourcing, production, and consumption".

The slow fashion movement also relates to broader ideas of digital citizenship. Some people have chosen to use platforms such as YouTube and Instagram to further promote the slow fashion movement. These 'slow fashion influencers' (e.g. Kristen Leo, Tiffany Ferguson, Venetia La Manna, Sarah Hawkinson) use social media to push back against the fast fashion industry, highlighting the fast fashion industry's ethical implications and strategies for sustainable participation in the industry overall. These videos have the intention of empowering viewers with the knowledge and skills to oppose the fast fashion industry themselves both through digital methods and their shopping habits.

However, while these videos promote helpful ideas concerning sustainability, there are still barriers to participating in the slow fashion movement. For example, using ethical production and materials means that often slow fashion garments are produced at a higher cost than fast fashion garments. Consequently, slow fashion garments are often sold at a higher price point, leading to issues of accessibility and a reluctance from consumers to switch from buying cheaper fast fashion items. Lai et al. (2017, p. 93) comment that, for many, when choosing between slow and fast fashion items, price is a key determining factor in decision making. Additionally, convenience also plays a significant role, with many unwilling to search out sustainably produced clothing. The implication is that while fast fashion brands can sell their clothing at a significantly lower price and in a more convenient way, slow fashion will be limited in its reach.

Additionally, while some believe that employing sustainable practices in fashion is a good step towards an ethical industry, others point out that the slow fashion industry still contributes to the textile industry and textile waste. These people suggest that the only ethical way to participate in the clothing industry is to buy clothing secondhand. Clothing resale platforms such as Depop capitalize on this idea, allowing users to trade and sell clothing, extending its lifecycle. Through Depop, a community has formed around selling secondhand clothing between users, often at prices comparable to fast fashion.

Despite the genuine efforts of many to counteract fast fashion with the slow fashion movement and sustainable production, many fashion retailers see sustainability as more of a trend or marketing tactic. Some of these companies will use greenwashing; when companies brand themselves to appear more environmentally friendly or sustainable than they actually are (Hawkinson 2020). For example, H&M has a 'conscious collection' (Farra 2020), marketed as an ethically produced line. However, while this particular collection may use sustainable practices and materials, some point out that H&M still produces many collections which do not. Additionally, these 'conscious collection' items are still produced in mass quantities. While they may last for a longer time, many of these items will eventually contribute to textile waste.

In general, the slow fashion and sustainability influencers act as a positive force against the destructive impact of fast fashion. However, slow fashion is not without its own issues. To improve the effectiveness of the movement, issues such as accessibility must be considered. Additionally, slow fashion influencers must continue to empower their viewers to be proactive digital citizens, using their platforms to advocate and educate.

Reference List:

Brewer, M. K 2019, 'Slow Fashion in a Fast Fashion World: Promoting Sustainability and Responsibility', Laws, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1 - 9

Farra, E 2020, 'H&M Takes a Step Toward Circularity With a Collection of Garments Made From Waste', Vogue, 18 November, viewed 25 May 2021, <https://www.vogue.com/article/hm-conscious-collection-recycled-waste-circularity>.

Hawkinson, S 2020, we need to talk about greenwashing ... companies are lying to you, March 10, viewed 24 May 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xaz2-IM4Olo>.

Kristen Leo 2018, Fast Fashion Explained In Under 5 Minutes, 27 September, viewed 27 May 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR7bXsoNwwE>.

With the ever-changing digital media landscape, people act online has evolved, previously in the ‘good old days’ the online landscape didn't see such harassment and bullying as nowadays. Environments for some users online have become less of a safe space and more a space where they get harassed, bullied, and insulted on a daily basis. An extremely large amount of users online experience harassment, it often originates from members of a loose online network known as the manosphere, a set of blogs, podcasts, and forums (Alice E. Marwick & Robyn Caplan).

The amount of people experiencing harassment has become out of hand, in an article by the Esafety Commissioner it is stated that within the 12 months of June 2017 1 in 5 Young Australians reported being socially excluded and or abused online. 55% of them sought help from a parent or guardian, 28% confided in their friends, 38% blocked the offending social media user and only 12% actually reported the offense to the website or platform (ESafety Commissioner, 2017). This information was all gathered in 2017, 4 years prior to today's evolved digital space, thus, leaving countless years for the statistics to get worse.

This is becoming a growing issue and we need to figure out ways to counteract it, ways to make the digital space and online community safe for all, not a space to be feared. Online platforms need to update the safety campaigns to include complex information and details regarding their terms and conditions with harassment and bullying in social contexts. Ultimately, online harassment is significantly different from more traditional forms of violence, it is more than a punch or a kick but it is about a person holding power and control over another. This being a daily power struggle for a lot of online users when others misuse the technology supplied to them. This is commonly more of an issue for girls and women and solutions I'm easy but it ultimately affects everyone and we need to do more as a society to counteract it.

References: - Alice E. Marwick & Robyn Caplan, 'Drinking male tears: language, the manosphere, and networked harassment' Feminist Media Studies Volume 18, 2018 - Issue 4: Pages 543-559

- ESafety Commissioner, 2017, Cyberbullying, viewed 26 May 2021, <https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/cyberbullying>.

In week 10 of digital communities, we looked into some of the negative aspects of social media and used our knowledge built up through the semester in order to explore how conflict is seen within the social media landscape. Throughout our study this semester, we have consistently seen examples of how social media is used positively to engage digital citizenship and create communities where users feel welcomed and safe during their time online. Despite this, it is also important that we acknowledge conflict on social media and what this demonstrates about power dynamics surrounding resources, speech and platforms within digital citizenship.

Issues of harassment on social media are commonly seen as individuals choosing to be abusive to others online, however, harassing behaviour is becoming increasingly coordinated and organised. Marwick and Caplan (2018) describe harassment as an “umbrella term encompassing a variety of behaviours” which can make defining and pinpointing harassment difficult. These behaviours are on display in the “manosphere”, an online collection of content that promotes misogyny and promotes the idea that men are an oppressed class within modern society (Marwick & Caplan, 2018, p.544). Members of this collective often engage in harassment in the form of doxing, revenge porn and social shaming (Marwick & Caplan, 2018, p.545). This calculated and organised harassment is extremely concerning for the safety of women online.

Online harassment can occur in more subtle forms, such as gaslighting. Gaslighting refers to the psychologically manipulating someone to question their sense of self and sanity (Gleeson 2018). While this form of harassment is less confronting and seemingly less harmful, it has recently been recognised as a form of abuse by groups such as the Domestic Violence Resource Centre of Victoria and Safe Steps.

The manner in which social media users feel they are free from consequences of their abuse online is extremely concerning, and the fact that there is no legislation against bullying and online abuse is disappointing. Despite this, there are pieces of legislation such as the Criminal Code Act 1995 and The Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 that offer a degree of protection (Powell & Henry 2017) I believe that transformative social change needs to be driven in order to reduce and eliminate gender-based violence and harassment online.

Thank you for reading my blog posts this semester, I have really enjoyed reading everyone else's!

References

Gleeson, J 2018, ‘Explainer: what does ‘gaslighting’ mean?’, The Conversation, viewed 23 May, <https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-gaslighting-mean-107888>.

Marwick, A & Caplan, R 2018, ‘Drinking Male tears: language, the manosphere, and networked harassment’, Feminist Media Studies, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 543-559.

I’ve been waiting many weeks for this one, and it’s finally here... I get to talk about gaming!!! Week 8 kicked off with another guest lecture, this time from Taylor Hardwick, a PhD candidate at Swinburne. I was pleased to find out that she is also into simulator games, as am I. She went over the history of games and their various communities, both offline and online. 

She also touched over the importance of social gaming in 2020, staying in touch over platforms like Among Us and Animal Crossing. I know this in particular was very important to me in maintaining my mental health during the many lockdowns we endured here in Melbourne, I was playing Fall Guys, NBA 2K20 and Madden with the boys almost every night, and we very much looked forward to it because although we couldn’t see each other in person, we were appreciative of the fact that we were privileged enough to find other ways to communicate and social gaming was certainly one of them.

Unfortunately, as with most things in life, there is a negative side to online gaming. The toxicity on many online servers is plain to see for sure. I personally get inboxes from other players when I have a terrible round in GTA or a poor performance in Rocket League, them asking me why I’m so shit and telling me I suck (among other profanities and slurs). And unfortunately it’s mostly from 13 year old boys that have nothing better to do. Although I do not use it myself, reporting functions on online servers and online bans have slightly improved this, but the toxicity that comes with competitive online gaming will perhaps never cease fully.

For most shoppers the convenience of walking into a store such as H&M and finding the latest looks at the lowest prices is heavily appealing. Although, most consumers don't understand the backstory to the clothes on these racks. Well H&M promised to pay 850,000 workers a living wage by 2018. They have spectacularly failed to meet this goal, leaving countless workers in third world countries such as Bangladesh barely enough money to survive. Most shops do not understand the story behind the clothes, all they see is the products, they don't know how much pollution these items are producing into the Earth's atmosphere. The majority of materials that H&M and other fast fashion businesses use are not eco-friendly. Consumers also don't understand the labour conditions that the makers of the clothes are put to work within, most of H&M supply chain is not certified by labour standards therefore not ensuring workers health and safety, living rights or Labour rights, simple things Australians take for granted and see as normal. The environment these workers are put within is inhumane and not acceptable for anyone as seen in the image below.

The rise of sustainability in fashion is not a recent occurrence but has recently been more talked about and embraced by young adults of this generation. Society has seen various waves of environmental, social, and economic concern, leading to more awareness of this subject (Zhen Lai, Claudia E. Henninger and Panayiota J. Alevizou). Although there are limited studies dedicated to understanding the rising issue of apparel overconsumption, showing a gap in understanding fast fashion or sustainability. The term slow fashion is defined as ‘apparel that has a longer product life cycle, emphases equality, is often higher-priced, and requires increased consciousness from producers and customers’ (Ting Chi, Jenisha Gerard, Yuhfen Yu & Yuanting Wang). With the growing credibility of op-shop shopping and searching for second-hand vintage clothing and accessories the number of people purchasing fast fashion is hopefully coming to an end or at least slowing down. Although as a society we will never be able to eliminate fast fashion and the negatives it produces on not only the environment but also workers' lives, if there isn't more publicity around the issues and if sustainability isn't taken seriously.

References -

Robertson, L 2020, How Ethical is H&M?, viewed 10 May 2021, <https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-hm/>.

Zhen Lai, Claudia E. Henninger and Panayiota J. Alevizou ‘An Exploration of Consumers’ Perceptions Towards Sustainable Fashion – A Qualitative Study in the UK’, in Sustainability in Fashion A Cradle to Upcycle Approach, edited by Henninger, C.E., Alevizou, P., Goworek, H., Ryding, D. (Palgrave: 2017).

Although being online is mainly a positive experience for some, for others it can be full of hate and harassment. Online harassment is a serious issue, as technology continues to take over the world, harassment, hate and abuse are shaping social media into a bad direction. The list of all kinds and types of online harassment is a long one, sadly. To name a few harassment includes threatening to upload private sexual/pornographic pictures, death threats, impersonation and social shaming. Sometimes the harassment can get so bad individuals being ‘abused’, self-harm or try to be abusive back to their ‘abuser’. Since nowadays, everything and anything is available online, women and men are unprotected as private information is hard to control (Free to Be Online, 2020).

Both men and women can be exposed to online harassment but recently with #MeToo movement allowing more women to speak about their experiences, it can be suggested that females experience online harassment more than men, especially women of colour and queer women. As online harassment continues more and more women are becoming more likely to consider to act in a negative behaviour to the harassment, and as the harassment continues younger women are growing up believing that the harassment is a normal part of being online, when in fact it definitely is not (Marwick and Caplan, 2018).

Once online harassment has been reported, attackers begin to ‘gaslight’ women and their experiences. ‘gaslighting is the psychological manipulation of a person in order to erode their sense of self and sanity.’ (Gleeson, 2018) Gaslighting has been a factor in many violence against women cases and domestic violence relationships, as men believe denying their actions towards women as a method to gain control and power over their partner, saying things like “that never happened” (Gleeson, 2018).

As more stories and experiences are being told, governments are providing new legalisation in order to reduce the harm online harassment cases, to continue raising awareness and advocate for those experiencing harassment currently.

References

2020. Free to Be Online. [ebook] Plan International. Available at: <http://file:///Users/sophiebaptista/Downloads/Plan%20International%20Free-to-Be-Online-2020.pdf> [Accessed 12 May 2021].

Gleeson, J., 2018. Explainer: what does 'gaslighting' mean?. [online] The Conversation. Available at: <https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-gaslighting-mean-107888> [Accessed 12 May 2021].

The global fashion world has seen a rise in the challenges in terms of providing sustainable clothing and social responsibility. As the fast fashion movement being promoted is actually generating a significant carbon footprint and raises numerous social and environmental concerns.

Fashion is one of many industries that is polluting the world, as it requires large amounts of raw materials, creating substantial levels of pollutions and leaves a notable carbon footprint and produces dangerous levels of waste as well (Brewer, 2019).

Fashion is forever changing so quickly, with fast-moving trends and styles. The rapid production, manufacturing and distribution being prioritised so ‘fashionistas’ can show off their new threads while huge brands gain more money in their pockets. In recent years, more designers and brands are beginning to create a more ‘sustainable’ line of clothing for their ethical shoppers. For a brand to be sustainable they must focus on the treatment and well-being of their workers, ensure they are using an increasing amount of environmentally friendly resources, renewable and/or recycled materials (Henninger, Alevizou, Goworek and Ryding, 2017). For concerned shoppers, sustainable fashion has more of a local focus, being able to support small local businesses, like ‘thrift stores’.

Promoting sustainability can be difficult in the world we live in nowadays being concerned with image and social status. This is where social media ‘influencers’ play a role, being paid to support the sustainable businesses to promote their clothing and gain followers and customers. Fans and followers of influencers most if not all want to be like or mirror their influencer of choice, so if their role model is promoting the idea of fair, sustainable (hopefully fair priced) clothing, the chances of them purchasing the products are inevitable.

References

Brewer, M., 2019. Slow Fashion in a Fast Fashion World: Promoting Sustainability and Responsibility. Laws, 8(4), p.24.

The ‘gaming community’ is a perfect example of a digital community, as it is growing so quickly and providing users with a safe environment for their imaginations to run free. The video game industry has been utilised has a proving ground of showing the countless techniques of platformisation as well.

Gaming has transformed from a single player hidden in their parents basement to huge professional esports competitions with millions and millions of viewers. In these competitions players verse one another in a formal setting like any sporting game like AFL, UFC etc. with the prize of enormous amounts of money, whilst fans can sit in stadiums and watch or watch as its being broadcasted globally. COVID - 19 lockdowns saw a rise of live streaming on sites such as Twitch. Live streaming provides professional players and teams with the opportunity to gain a bigger audience, brand and even incomes. (Taylor, 2018).

Live streaming apps such as Twitch aren’t only used to broadcast gaming but also a safe place to share creative content such as cooking, home concerts, tutorials etc. Twitch began as a platform to only support gaming but has expanded to accommodate all content for users, making it a positive and supportive digital community for all. Viewers on the streaming site can range from small audiences of family and friends to hundreds, thousands, even millions of fans/ viewers. (Taylor, 2018).

Live streaming gives us an in depth view into what contemporary networking and media culture will progress into the future for online producers and audiences, in the gaming community.

References

Chia, A., Keogh, B., Leorke, D. and Nicoll, B., 2020. Platformisation in game development. Internet Policy Review, 9(4).