Public Responses to Online Resistance: Bringing Power into Confrontation

In the wake of #MeToo, questions about the political potential of social media as a site of resistance, and justice have become prominent. Feminist scholars have long examined how victims-survivors use online spaces as sites of justice-seeking. However, #MeToo’s centralisation of anti-violence testimony was recognised as a historical moment of consciousness raising which capitalised on the ability for testimony to shift the public’s frame of reference for interpreting sexual violence . The examination of modalities of online resistance is crucial for feminist interrogations of technology and violence. However, in order to fully grasp the complexities of online resistance, it is vital to consider public responses to these resistance forms. Drawing from a case study involving public responses to online naming and shaming of image based abuse, this chapter explores how moments of resistant confrontation -which visibilise gendered power structures- are managed and embraced by the public in online settings