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On Saturday, I received a host of messages from friends asking me to participate in a "female blackout". Here is the essence of the message.
Viral female blackout message on Facebook.Public domain
This is not a movement! This is spam and the equivalent of the mail quote. If you search for its origin, you will quickly see that there is no official group or organization behind. It was launched in 2017 and purported to send a message about domestic violence or sexual assault.
Why is mail delivery like this counterproductive to move the needle on issues such as sexual assault, domestic violence or any other problem?
They are not linked to any advocacy goal or strategic impact. For example, there is no message to contact your senators about specific bills, such as the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which is due to expire this weekend!
Often the messages are vague and can end up hurting the people they are trying to help. In the case of the message about women who are out of power, people perpetuate the erasure and silence of women at a time when women need to be seen and heard. "Asking people to shut up in the face of oppression is the opposite of activism. Never. Never. Never. Give up your platform for speaking or your ability to be seen, "Amanda Quraishi said in a public message on Facebook.
Equally alarming is the message of your deaf asking women, especially black women, to exchange their photo for a black square. As Leslie Mac has publicly announced, "I would like to invite you to think about the optics and the impact you have of asking a black woman to join a" power outage "on social networks. First of all, we are mostly invisible and ignored, so the idea of a collective action that further diminishes our voices even for a day … no. "
What to make an impact? Here are two concrete things you can do now.
- If you want to urge your congressmen to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act or express your opinion on the upcoming votes that impact women, call them today. The Congress Hotline is 1-202-224-3121 and they will put you in touch with your congressman. If you do not know who your congressmen are, you can consult it GovTrack.us. Changing your profile picture in black is useless!
- Register to vote if you are not already registered. You can go to Vote.org to get all the information you need. If you are registered to vote, propose to register others to vote in your neighborhood and so on. League of Voters, a non-partisan organization, has more than 750 chapters across the United States and you can volunteer to register voters.
Warning: I am a board member of the Education Fund for the League of Women Voters.
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On Saturday, I received a host of messages from friends asking me to participate in a "female blackout". Here is the essence of the message.
Message Blackout Woman becoming viral on Facebook.Public domain
This is not a movement! This is spam and the equivalent of the mail quote. If you search for its origin, you will quickly see that there is no official group or organization behind. It was launched in 2017 and purported to send a message about domestic violence or sexual assault.
Why is this type of mail counterproductive to move the needle on issues such as sexual assault or domestic violence or frankly no problem?
They are not linked to any advocacy goal or strategic impact. For example, there is no message to contact your senators about specific bills, such as the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which is due to expire this weekend!
Often the messages are vague and can end up hurting the people they are trying to help. In the case of the message about women who are out of power, people perpetuate the erasure and silence of women at a time when women need to be seen and heard. "Asking people to shut up in the face of oppression is the opposite of activism. Never. Never. Never. Give up your platform for speaking or your ability to be seen, "Amanda Quraishi said in a public message on Facebook.
Equally alarming is the message of your deaf asking women, especially black women, to exchange their photo for a black square. As Leslie Mac has publicly announced, "I would like to invite you to think about the optics and the impact you have of asking a black woman to join a" power outage "on social networks. First of all, we are mostly invisible and ignored, so the idea of a collective action that further diminishes our voices even for a day … no. "
What to make an impact? Here are two concrete things you can do now.
- If you want to urge your congressmen to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act or express your opinion on the upcoming votes that impact women, call them today. The Congress Hotline is 1-202-224-3121 and they will put you in touch with your congressman. If you do not know who your congressmen are, you can consult it GovTrack.us. Changing your profile picture in black is useless!
- Register to vote if you are not already registered. You can go to Vote.org to get all the information you need. If you are registered to vote, propose to register others to vote in your neighborhood and so on. League of Voters, a non-partisan organization, has more than 750 chapters across the United States and you can volunteer to register voters.
Warning: I am a board member of the League of Women Voters Education Fund.
