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Platform Feminism: Feminist Protest Space and the Politics of Spatial Organization

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Platform Feminism: Feminist Protest Space and the Politics of Spatial Organization Platform Feminism: Feminist Protest Space and the Politics of Spatial Organization by Rianka Singh A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Information University of Toronto © Copyright by Rianka Singh 2020 Platform Feminism: Feminist Protest Space and the Politics of Spatial Organization Rianka Singh Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Information University of Toronto 2020 Abstract Platform Feminism: Feminist Protest Space and the Politics of Spatial Organization examines the relationship between platforms and feminist politics. This dissertation proposes a new feminist media theory of the platform that positions the platform as a media object that elevates and amplifies some voices over others and renders marginal resistance tactics illegible. This dissertation develops the term “Platform Feminism” to describe an emerging view of digital platforms as always-already politically useful media for feminist empowerment. I argue that Platform Feminism has come to structure and dominate popular imaginaries of what a feminist politics is. In the same vein, the contemporary focus on digital platforms within media studies negates attention to the strategies of care, safety and survival that feminists who resist on the margins employ in the digital age. If we take seriously the imperative to survive rather than an overbearing commitment to speak up, then the platform’s role in feminism is revealed as limited in scope and potential. Through a mixed methodological approach via interviews with feminist activists, critical discourse analysis of platform protest materials, critical discourse analysis of news coverage and popular cultural responses to transnational feminist protests and participant observation within sites of feminist protest in Toronto, this dissertation argues that the platform is a media object that is over-determined in its political utility for Feminist politics and action. ii Dedication For my grandparents, Om and Nirmal Joshi. iii Acknowledgments I’ve had a running “Acknowledgements” document on my computer for the past year. I open it periodically when I’m stuck on other parts of my dissertation to add sentences and the names of the people who have helped me get through this PhD (you should see the B-side list of people who have wronged me). It’s become my favourite form of procrastination and often seeing the names of people rooting for me has been a source of inspiration to keep writing. Sarah Sharma supervised my graduate work and I could not have dreamed of a better mentor to guide me through doing a PhD. Sarah taught me where and how to look. My work and ideas have benefited so much from being in close proximity to Sarah’s brilliant mind- thank you for allowing me to write across from and alongside you. So much time and care were put into my ‘student training,’ not just as a researcher but in how to navigate all of other parts of academia and these are lessons that will stick with me forever. Sarah became the director of the McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology around the same time that we began working together and this dissertation is also very much shaped by the amazing scholars that she has brought to the centre over the past four years. Thank you, Sarah, for keeping me laughing and making these past 5 years so much fun. My scrapbook is overflowing. Leslie Regan Shade served on my committee and kept her office door across the hall open for me to wander into over the past 5 years. I owe so much of my growth as a scholar to Leslie and her ability to ask me tough questions I didn’t want to answer. Alessandro Delfanti has created a community here for his students that I feel very lucky to have been a part of. His generosity, honest feedback, and moral compass have shaped my scholarship. Carrie Rentschler’s feedback and insightful questions of this dissertation were incredibly generative and my work will be better for it. Thank you to David Nieborg too, who participated in my defense and challenged me to expand and develop this project. My dissertation would not have been possible without the participation of the activists and scholars I interviewed for this project. Michèle Pearson Clarke, OmiSoore H. Dryden, Sarah Jama, Cayden Mak, Katherine McKittrick, Ladan Siad, and a founding member of the Medina Mentorship Collective, all generously shared their time, ideas and stories with me. I am so inspired by their commitment to care for their communities and make the world more livable. I have learned so much from my academic mentors and friends at the University of Toronto. Nicole Cohen, Beth Coleman, TL Cowan, Tero Karppi, Patrick Keilty, Heather MacNeil, Rhonda McEwen, Cait McKinney, Michelle Murphy, Jeremy Packer, Jasmine Rault and Brian Cantwell Smith have all offered guidance and mentorship at difference stages of this program. This dissertation was also shaped by the conversations I have had on patios, in between karaoke songs, and during the half time of basketball games in busy bars with, Réka Gál, Jack Jamieson, Chaya Litvack, Emily Maemura, Curtis McCord, Karen Dewart McEwen, Katie MacKinnon, Michel Mersereau, Rebecca Noone, Hannah Turner, Ashley Scarlett, Dawn Walker, Hilary Walker and Chris Young. My friend and classmate Nes Yuille began the program with me and I have kept her memory with me along the way. iv My friends and extended family have provided laughter and light every step of the way. Thank you to Korey Anderson, Peggy Arrowsmith, Kyla Blackie, Rachel Hicks, Nick Klassen, Julia Lord, Erin McDonald, Cynthia Minh, Sasha Odesse, Victoria Patterson, Ken Pockele, Jaclyn Quinn, John Roman, Jessie Sawyers, Dom Sorbara, Lewis Silvestri, Jyoti Suri, Rob Ungard, Kristin Valois and Matt Zic for the love and nourishment that has sustained me over the past 5 years. Bridget Sinclair, Marlon Merraro, Georgia Sinclair-Merraro and Isadora Sinclair-Merraro have provided me with the encouragement, workouts, and hot plantain that have fueled this dissertation. Becsy Lapp, Hetty Lapp, Lorelei Lapp, and Peter Lapp have been incredibly supportive of this work, have listened to me talk about platforms for far too long, have carefully read my first drafts and came into my life at exactly the right time. To my mom Anju, my dad Gurmit and my sisters/best buds Miekela and Sashaina, thank you for all of the forms of care and support you have provided me that have made finishing a PhD possible. Thanks for the family dinners and for listening to me mutter about the internet. Thanks for taking panicked phone calls and for knowing when it was time for hugs and when it was time for a kick in the pants. Thanks for not being too (perceptibly) disturbed when I told you I was going to dedicate the next five years of my life to becoming Doctor of Information. I am so lucky, and I love all of you so much. Finally, thank you to my iSchool sweetheart and the best thing I found at the University of Toronto, Jessica Lapp. It has been such a gift to do this together and I am so grateful for your brilliant mind, your careful eyes, and your unfathomable patience. We’ve been through head bonks, heart burns, torn up drafts, bad ideas and good ideas and have come out on the other side. As the prophet Rihanna would say, “we found love in a hopeless place.” v Table of Contents Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................... IV Table Of Contents ......................................................................................................................... IV List Of Figures ........................................................................................................................... VIII List Of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... IX Chapter 1- Introduction: The Women’s March, #Metoo and Defining Platform Feminism .......... 1 Defining Platforms .................................................................................................................. 6 Argument 1: A Politics Of Elevation Is Mediated By Platforms.......................................... 12 Argument 2: Platforms Mediate Visibility ........................................................................... 18 Argument 3: We Need To Reconsider Feminist Activism in the Digital Age ..................... 24 Research Design And Methodology ..................................................................................... 28 Organization Of The Dissertation ......................................................................................... 36 Chapter 2-Feminism’s Other Platforms ........................................................................................ 38 Soapboxes: Makeshift Pulpits ............................................................................................... 42 Platform Shoes: Fall, Pause Rise .......................................................................................... 47 Witch Hunts And Gallows .................................................................................................... 52 Auction Blocks...................................................................................................................... 54 Conclusion: Lessons From Feminism’s Other Platforms ..................................................... 57 Chapter 3- Convening On The Margins: Spatial Strategies And Platform Logics ....................... 61 Spatial
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