Platform Feminism: Celebrity Culture and Activism in the Digital Age by Caitlin E. Lawson A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Communication) in the University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Aswin Punathambekar, Chair Associate Professor Megan Ankerson Professor Susan Douglas Professor Lisa Nakamura Professor Katherine Sender Caitlin E. Lawson [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8327-2172 © Caitlin E. Lawson 2018 ii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my committee chair, Aswin Punathambekar, for his positive and challenging feedback throughout this project. My dissertation would not be what it is without his help, and I am more grateful than I can say. I would also like to thank the members of my committee – Susan, Katherine, Lisa, and Megan – for their comments on various iterations of this project over the years. I would also like to thank Annemarie Navar-Gill, Amelia Couture, Nicky Hentrich, and Kayti Lausch, for their feedback and companionship, especially over the last year as I have written up this dissertation. Our writing meetings have given me the motivation to keep on with this project, and I am so glad to have had you around on this journey. And Annemarie, I never would have made it through these five years without you. My gratitude also goes out to Steve and Marquita Lawson, who have read every word of this dissertation and supported my every endeavor. You are the best parents anyone could hope for, and I could never have done this – or become the person I am today – without you. I love you both so much. And finally, thank you to Ben for always challenging me to be a better and smarter researcher, and a better and kinder person. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... ii List of Images ................................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One .................................................................................................................................. 47 Hacking Celebrity: Sexuality and Victimization in the Celebrity Nude Photo Hack ............................. 47 Chapter Two .................................................................................................................................. 77 Staging Feminism: Award Show Activism and Celebrity Intervention at the 2015 Academy Awards . 77 Chapter Three .............................................................................................................................. 129 Nasty Women, Silly Girls: Fame, Feminism, and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential Campaign ..... 129 Chapter Four ............................................................................................................................... 164 Platform Vulnerabilities: Harassment and Misogynoir in the Digital Attack on Leslie Jones ............. 164 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 194 References ................................................................................................................................... 205 iii List of Images Image 1: Alyssa Milano’s #MeToo tweet, 15 October 2017 ..............................................3 Image 2: The official Time’s Up Instagram account posted this image .............................4 of actresses and activists at the Golden Globes on 7 January 2018. Image 3: In this image posted on PerezHilton.com, text over images ..............................60 of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton tells readers these women are “just like you.” Image 4: This screenshot shows the landing page of Anonib in October .........................61 2014. The text shows different categories for different boards, including each state in the US. Image 5: This screenshot shows an example post from the board labeled .......................61 “Michigan” on 12 October 2015. On these boards, users post images of and information about women and ask fellow users to hack their photo accounts and send them images in exchange for cryptocurrency, and/or they share images of “wins,” i.e. illicit images of women. In the post excerpted here, the original poster asks for “Any wins of this sexy stripper” and posts her image along with her first name and the initial of her last, which I have blurred. Responders then agree that they would like to see the images, and one claims they “fucked her and it was bomb as hell.” In response, another poster asks if he “pa[id] for it.” Posts like this are typical. Image 6: Jennifer Lawrence appears on the cover of Vanity Fair for her ........................65 first interview about the hack, November 2014 Image 7: This set of screenshots and text, depicting some of the .....................................68 “investigative” work that Reddit users engaged in to (erroneously) discover that Hamade was the hacker, was anonymously posted on imgur.com on September 1, 2014 and embedded in Warzel’s article. Image 8: Amy Poehler’s organization, Smart Girls, tweeted for ......................................87 followers to #AskHerMore on 22 February, the night of the 2015 Academy Awards. Image 9: Reese Witherspoon’s highly circulated Instagram post .....................................89 in support of #AskHerMore on 22 February 2015 iv Image 10: Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez cheer during Arquette’s ............................106 speech Image 11: Brittney Cooper tweets about Patricia Arquette’s acceptance .......................112 speech on 23 February 2015 Image 12: Patricia Arquette took to Twitter on 6 October 2015 to ................................123 thank California State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson and Gov. Jerry Brown for their work on SB 358. Image 13: Gloria Steinem appears on Bill Maher’s HBO show on ................................137 5 February 2016 Image 14: Steinem posted an apology to Facebook on 7 February ................................139 2016, which provoked mixed responses from commenters Image 15: This Twitter user asserts reasons she is voting for Sanders ...........................145 using the hashtag, #NotHereForBoys Image 16: People for Bernie, a Sanders support account, asserts ...................................150 Sanders’ feminist credentials in response to Steinem’s comments Image 17: Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams pretends to ...............................153 be swiping for potential partners on Tinder during a Sanders campaign rally to satirize Steinem and Albright’s comments Image 18: This header image appeared at the beginning of Yiannopoulos’....................169 review Image 19: Jones worked to rally support on Twitter by posting images ........................170 of the harassment she received Image 20: Many Black men rallied to support Jones on Twitter using ..........................175 the hashtag #BlackMenSupportLeslie Image 21: Jones appears alongside fellow SNL castmember Pete Davidson .................180 in a parody of Mr. Robot that poked fun at the harassment she faced Image 22: Katy Perry’s tweet was the most recirculated media object ..........................183 related the harassment against Jones Image 23: Milo Yiannopoulos and InfoWars host Alex Jones .......................................188 Image 24: This picture was posted to the official Time’s Up .........................................196 Instagram on 9 February 2018 and shows members Jill Soloway, v Rashida Jones, Tina Tchen, Melina Matsoukas, Nina Shaw, Ava DuVernay, Maha Dakhil Jackson, and Natalie Portman at the Makers Women Conference. vi Abstract Platform Feminism: Celebrity Culture and Activism in the Digital Age tells the story of digital platforms' role in the feminist movement during the early 21st century. Taking celebrity culture as a potent site at which to analyze the new visibilities of feminism and its responses to a new wave of conservative and deeply reactionary politics, I explore the ways in which networked publics coalesce around celebrity events and, in discussing, analyzing, and critiquing various actors within these events, engage in boundary work around what it means to “be a feminist.” From responses to celebrity harassment to hashtag campaigns supporting celebrity feminism to critiques of imperfect feminist celebrities, this dissertation explores the contentious debates about feminism that arise around celebrity culture within digital spaces. To analyze these discourses, this project draws together literature from three often-disparate academic subfields: platform studies, feminist media studies, and celebrity studies. Using a case study approach, each chapter draws on intersectional feminist theory to examine a celebrity event from 2014-2016 that incited controversy across a variety of media platforms around issues of gender, sexuality, race, and class. I track each event across online and legacy media outlets and engage in multiplatform critical technocultural discourse analysis to analyze how discussions amongst issue