Material Moments in Virtual Worlds

Creating Hybrid Spaces for Feminist Consciousness-raising

in Girlhood Studies
Author:
Syafiqah Abdul Rahim Researcher, Malaysian Youth Council, Malaysia dr.syafiqahrahim@gmail.com

Search for other papers by Syafiqah Abdul Rahim in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8036-2479
and
Hannah Walters Kings College London, UK hannah.1.walters@kcl.ac.uk

Search for other papers by Hannah Walters in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9303-5450
Restricted access

Abstract

Covid-19 signalled rapid, near-wholesale shifts to the online world, yet how this affected the establishment of supportive, safe spaces for activism has received scant attention. Based on ongoing work with young women and girls in Malaysia, we discuss the pedagogic processes of feminist consciousness-raising as an informal mode of Girlhood Studies education and how online spaces might be reconfigured to enhance the virtual experience through hybrid workshops. Theorized from a feminist new materialist perspective and guided by the principles that feminism is an everyday practice, and feminism is for everybody, we argue that the hybrid space introduced material and sensory elements, facilitated feelings of connectedness, and helped establish a safe space for participants to engage with feminism and girls’ rights in meaningful ways.

Contributor Notes

Syafiqah Abdul Rahim (ORCID: 0000-0002-8036-2479) is a researcher with the Malaysian Youth Council. Her research focuses on young people's participation in youth movements in Malaysia. Email: dr.syafiqahrahim@gmail.com

Hannah Walters (ORCID: 0000-0002-9303-5450) is a feminist sociologist of youth and education. Her work uses creative and arts-based methods to explore class- and gender-based aspects of contemporary girlhood. Email: hannah.1.walters@kcl.ac.uk

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Girlhood Studies

An Interdisciplinary Journal

  • Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2013. Do Muslim Women Need Saving? London: Harvard University Press.

  • Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. 2017. Dear Ijeawele: Or, a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. New York: Knopf Publishers.

  • Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. 2014. We Should All Be Feminists. New York, NY: Anchor Book.

  • Ahmed, Sara. 2017. Living a Feminist Life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

  • Aljuneid, Syed Muhd Khairudin. 2013. Against Multiple Hegemonies: Radical Malay Women in Colonial Malaya. Journal of Social History 47 (1): 153175. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsh/sht056.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ariffin, Rohana. 1999. “Feminism in Malaysia: A Historical and Present Perspective of Women's Struggles in Malaysia.” Women's Studies International Forum 22 (4): 417423. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(99)00039-4.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Banet-Weiser, Sarah, Rosalind Gill, and Catherine Rottenberg 2020). “Postfeminism, Popular Feminism and Neoliberal Feminism? Sarah Banet-Weiser, Rosalind Gill and Catherine Rottenberg in Conversation.” Feminist Theory 21 (1): 324. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700119842555.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Bennett, Jane. 2010. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

  • Budgeon, Shelley. 2014. “The Dynamics of Gender Hegemony: Femininities, Masculinities and Social Change.” Sociology 48 (2): 317334. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0038038513490358.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Chen, Gina Masullo, Paromita Pain, and Briana Barner. 2018. “Hashtag Feminism”: Activism or Slacktivism? In Feminist Approaches to Media Theory and Research. Comparative Feminist Studies, ed. Dustin Harp, Jaime Loke and Ingrid Bachmann, 197218. Cham CH: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90838-0_14.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Chin, Grace V. S., and Mohd Daud, Kathrina. 2018. “Introduction.” In The Southeast Asian Woman Writes Back Gender, Identity and Nation in the Literatures of Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, ed. Grace V. S. Chin and Kathrina Mohd Daud, 118. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Coffey, Julia. 2021. “Images as ‘Potentials’: Feminist New Materialist Orientations to Photovoice”. Qualitative Research OnlineFirst 120. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14687941211049334.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Faludi, Susan. 1992. Backlash: The Undeclared War against American Women. New York, NY: Anchor Books.

  • Favaro, Laura, and Rosalind Gill. 2018. Feminism Rebranded: Women's Magazines Online and ‘the Return of the F-word.’ Dígitos: Revista de Comunicación Digital (4): 3765. https://doi.org/10.7203/rd.v0i4.129.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Freeman, Sophie. 2010. “How we Define Craftivism.” Craftivist Collective, 30 June. https://craftivist-collective.com/blog/2010/06/how-we-define-craftivism-by-sophie-freeman/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Freire, Paolo. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group.

  • Gill, Rosalind. 2007. “Postfeminist Media Culture: Elements of a Sensibility.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 10 (2): 147166. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1367549407075898.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Grande, Sandy. 2004. Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

  • Hirschman, Charles. 2016. Gender, the Status of Women and Family Structure in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies 53 (1): 3350. https://mjes.um.edu.my/index.php/MJES/article/view/2778.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • hooks, bell. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York, NY: Routledge.

  • hooks, bell. 2000. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. London: Pluto Press.

  • International Labor Organization. 2020. Youth & COVID-19: Impacts on Jobs, Education, Rights, and Mental Well-Being. Global Report 11 August.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Jane, Emma A. 2017. Misogyny Online: A Short (And Brutish) History. London, UK: Sage.

  • Kelly, Maura. 2015. “Feminist Identity, Collective Action, and Individual Resistance among Contemporary U.S. Feminists.” Women's Studies International Forum 48: 8192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2014.10.025.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Kim, Crystal, and Jessica Ringrose. 2018. “‘Stumbling Upon Feminism’: Teenage Girls’ Forays into Digital and School-Based Feminisms.” Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 11 (2): 4662. https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2018.110205.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Kovacs, Balazs, Nicholas Caplan, Samuel Grob, and Marissa King. 2021. “Social Networks and Loneliness During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 7: 116. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120985254.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lawrence, Emilie, and Jessica Ringrose. 2018. “@Notofeminism, #Feministsareugly, and Misandry Memes.” Emergent Feminisms. Complicating a Postfeminist Media Culture, ed. Jessalynn Keller and Maureen E. Ryan, 21112232. New York, NY: Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lee, Hwok Aun and Kevin Zhang. 2021The COVID-19 Recession: Rough Times for Young Malaysians.” ISEAS Perspective 2021/116, 3 September.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lee, Julian. C. H., and Nikkola Mikocki-Bleeker. 2018. “Malaysian Feminists on Feminism and Authenticity.” In Women's Activism in Malaysia: Voices and Insights, ed. Julian C.H. Lee, 1531. Palgrave Pivot.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mangen, Anne. 2008. “Hypertext Fiction Reading: Haptics and Immersion.” Journal of Research in Reading 31 (4): 404419. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.00380.x.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • McRobbie, Angela. 2009. The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change. London: Sage.

  • Mendes, Kaitlynn, Jessica Ringrose, and Jessalynn Keller. 2018. “#MeToo and The Promise and Pitfalls of Challenging Rape Culture through Digital Feminist Activism.” European Journal of Women's Studies (25) 2: 236246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506818765318.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Merchant, Guy. 2021. “Reading with Technology: The New Normal.” Education 3–13, 49 (1): 96106. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1824705.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Munro, Ealasaid. 2013. “Feminism: A Fourth Wave?Political Insight 4 (2): 2225. https://doi.org/10.1111%2F2041-9066.12021.

  • National Council of Women's Organization. 2013. NCWO: 50 Years Remembered. Report to the NCWO. Kuala Lumpur: National Council of Women's Organization.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ng, Cecilia, Maznah Mohamad, and tan beng Hui. 2006. Feminism and the Women's Movement in Malaysia: An Unsung (r)Evolution. New York, NY: Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ptolomey, Amanda M., and Libby L. Nelson. Forthcoming. “A Creative Conversation for Re-Imagining Creative Visual Methods with Children and Young People in Pandemic Times and beyond.” Sociological Research Online.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Renold, Emma. 2018. “‘Feel What I Feel’: Making Da(r)Ta with Teen Girls for Creative Activisms on How Sexual Violence Matters.” Journal of Gender Studies 27 (1): 3755. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2017.1296352.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Retallack, Hanna, Jessica Ringrose, and Emilie Lawrence. 2016. “Fuck Your Body Image”: Teen Girls’ Twitter and Instagram Feminism in and around School.” In Learning Bodies. Perspectives on Children and Young People, ed. Julia Coffey, Shelley Budgeon and Helen Cahill, 85103. Singapore: Springer.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ringrose, Jessica. 2018. “Digital Feminist Pedagogy and Post-Truth Misogyny.” Teaching in Higher Education 23 (5): 647656, https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1467162.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Rowsell, Jennifer, and Mark Shillitoe. 2019. “The Craftivists: Pushing for Affective, Materially Informed Pedagogy.” British Journal of Educational Technology 50 (4): 15441559. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12773.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Schaal, Michèle. 2020. “From Actions to Words: FEMEN's Fourth-Wave Manifestos.” French Cultural Studies 31 (4): 329341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957155820961650.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Schraer, Rachel. 2020. “Depression Doubles during Coronavirus PandemicBBC News, Britain. 18 August. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53820425.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Schuster, Julia. 2017. “Why the Personal Remained Political: Comparing Second and Third Wave Perspectives on Everyday Feminism.” Social Movement Studies 16 (6): 647659. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2017.1285223.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Syafiqah Abdul Rahim, and Walters, Hannah. 2021. “Developing ‘hybrid’ workshops for online feminist consciousness raising”. Gender and Education Association GEA, 23 April. http://www.genderandeducation.com/issues/feminist-workshop/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Wang, Sihui, Marta Moskal, and Michele Schweisfurth. 2022. “The Social Practice of Silence in Intercultural Classrooms at a UK University.” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 52 (4): 600617. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2020.1798215.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • World Economic Forum. 2021. Global Gender Gap Report 2021: Insight Report March 2021. GE: World Economic Forum.

  • Hall, Don, and Carlos López Estrada, dirs. 2021. Raya The Last Dragon. USA.

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 1662 777 92
Full Text Views 103 6 1
PDF Downloads 115 9 0