The HeForShe Movement's Impact on Social Media
Gabby Meyer
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What is the HeForShe movement?
What is the HeForShe movement?
The #HeForShe movement focuses on gender equality and women's rights. The movement encourages men to join women in fighting these inequalities and being a voice for them. The movement is run by an organization called UN Women. The website has information about how it was founded, resources, contact information, events, and other important information.
The hashtag is simple yet effective. Hashtags are used to draw more attention to a problem or concern that is meaningful to someone or a group (Pennington, p. 603). The hashtag clearly indicates men advocating for women, making the movement clearer and more understanding. To take a deeper dive into the hashtag, I will conduct research on social media, online videos, media outlets, and academic journals. Focusing on social media's perception of the movement is very important for this research. The media plays a huge role in shaping our culture and the public's beliefs (Frechette, p. 624). So, it is essential to have a strong social media presence because it is the platform from which a lot of people, especially the younger generation, get their information. If the hashtag is trending and circling social media, people will be intrigued to find more information on the movement. This blog will explore the HeForShe movement and how the hashtag has been utilized and influenced across social media platforms.
Emma Watson Speech
Emma Watson Speech
The hashtag is prevalent across all major social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. A speech that gained worldwide attention was from Emma Watson. Emma Watson, known for her acting role in the Harry Potter film series, is an ambassador for the organization. She delivered a speech calling for men to fight against gender equality. In her speech, she discussed many points regarding gender equality and feminism. One point that stood out is when Watson discussed how feminism has been misunderstood in women hating men or being against men (United Nations, 2014). This was a key part because both women and men get the wrong impression of feminism at times. It is not about hating men and making women superior to them. Feminists want women to have equal rights as men. So, it was important for Emma Watson to explain this to those who had doubts about the HeForShe movement. By stating this, people could have had a better understanding, which would have resulted in them raising awareness and supporting this movement. She is an influential role model for many people, including young girls and women. So, her status and words allowed millions of people to gain an understanding of what the movement is all about, why it matters to her, and why people should care about the #HeForShe campaign.
Jordan 2020 Campaign
Jordan 2020 Campaign
Although this campaign began over ten years ago, they are still active on social media and creating a difference. During the COVID-29 pandemic, HeForShe volunteers across Jordan took their concerns about the lockdown and what women were facing during crises (UN Women Jordan, 2020). As mentioned, there was a video with men holding signs saying, “He for her.” This 2020 campaign did the same exact thing, holding up the same signs. This social media campaign focused on the hashtag #HeForSheAtHome so men could help women balance work, children, and household tasks (UN Women Jordan, 2020). This campaign helped people remember that gender equality goes beyond the workplace. This campaign highlights the importance of shared responsibilities. Women are expected to come home from work, take care of all the household chores, and feed and prepare their children for school the next day.
The Role of Social Media Platforms
Each platform has a different motive when it comes to serving its purpose. TikTok, for example, has a younger audience. They might not know about gender inequality or have very little knowledge of this matter. If there are quick but informative clips, they are able to get a better understanding of the movement. X serves as a platform where people can go back and forth with each other, creating conversations and amplifying voices. Another platform where HeForShe has a following is YouTube. YouTube serves as an educational platform where people can watch and listen to speeches or events.
Emma Watson Tweet
Emma Watson Tweet
A month before Emma Watson gave her speech, she posted on Twitter addressing gender inequality and used the hashtag #HeForShe. By making this post, she introduced her audience to the movement, which builds engagement and awareness of the HeForShe movement.
v15044gf0000cs7clavog65m46hu618g.MP4Harry Styles TikTok Video
Harry Styles TikTok Video
The #HeForShe hashtag helps bring awareness, advocate for women, and build a community. For example, there is a video on TikTok where Harry Styles was interviewed. One of the questions talked about Emma Watson and her role in the movement and how One Direction releases music that focuses on girl power. This interview was not focused on the HeForShe movement, so it shows how powerful that hashtag is when it gets brought up in different contexts.
v09044190000bpkkhp1o1k5lh3eqd8eg.MP4HeForShe TikTok Video
HeForShe TikTok Video
There is another video on TikTok, which was posted by the United Nations HeForShe account, and it was men holding up signs that said: “He for her.” The rest of the video is men from different backgrounds talking about gender inequality and discussing what they can do better for women across the world. Both videos are bringing awareness and advocating for women. The community is being built by people who like, share, and comment on these videos.
Impact Across Social Media and Audience
Impact Across Social Media and Audience
According to the UN HeForShe website, three billion conversations have been held on social media (HeForShe, n.d.). The level of engagement is so important because the hashtag resonates and connects with people on digital platforms. It brings more awareness to the movement and what they are fighting for. As mentioned earlier, Emma Watson delivered a speech supporting the HeForShe movement. Her speech broke the internet, and the HeForShe campaign became more understood and accepted worldwide, especially by the media (Hay, 2022). When an organization has a notable leader or celebrity like Emma Watson, people are going to pay more attention. Celebrities hold such power in persuading an audience, where our identities and conversations are formed through celebrities (Marwick & Boyd, p. 4). Celebrities' influence can be applied to anything, whether that is Hailey Bieber influencing women to do clean girl makeup or Kamala Harris bringing Beyonce to her rally for her presidential campaign. No matter what it is, celebrities grab the attention of the everyday person. People are influenced by celebrities because they want to be able to relate to that celebrity in any way they can. Social media allows people to gain insight into these celebrities' opinions, beliefs, values, and interests. And this is what allowed supporters of Emma Watson to achieve by giving her speech. Watson's speech connected to her supporters and people who were familiar with her work and, most importantly, helped gain a whole new audience, which furthered the success of the HeForShe movement.
After Emma Watson made her speech, the video reached 11 million views, with over 750,000 people tweeting and using the hashtag #HeForShe (Shorty Awards, n.d.). This goes to show the power of social media. Social media allows people to spread their message in one click. It allows more communities or people of different backgrounds to view and understand a message that holds significance to a person or a group. By the end of 2014, the HeForShe campaign gained 100,000 online signatures from men supporting this movement (Shorty Awards, n.d.). This campaign has been successful in reaching the targeted audience of men. Without men's support, this campaign would not be able to achieve its goal of ending inequality among women.
Critics of the HeForShe Movement
Critics of the HeForShe Movement
With every social movement or social media campaign, there are going to be critics. People have different perspectives on topics, which is entirely normal because that is how conversations start if there needs to be improvements. Many of the conversations disagreeing with the idea of the HeForShe movement were on Reddit. Users who commented on discussions regarding the HeForShe movement did not like the message behind the hashtag or movement. Others did not think men would like the phrase “He for she” because some men believe this campaign is saying what they have not done, which turns them off. Most of the conversations disagree with this movement, like the idea of fighting gender inequality. However, users do not like how they are approaching this, as it seems like all men should be blamed for gender inequality.
There were not many articles that disapproved of the HeForShe movement. However, there is an article from The Beacon, a student-run newspaper at the University of Portland. Rachel Rippetoe likes how the media is turning their attention to this movement. However, the HeForShe movement is inviting men while forgetting marginalized women groups like transgender women or women of color (Rippetoe, 2015). This means that we are neglecting the voices of marginalized groups and focusing on getting men’s support rather than addressing the struggles of women who have been ignored. Conversations of disapproval have focused on the social media campaign, but this argument is different but worth considering. I believe this article opens the eyes of many people. The campaign may not have intentionally neglected marginalized groups, but it is important to recognize it. It could be an opportunity for men to amplify marginalized voices rather than ignoring men's involvement.
The HeForShe movement has successfully leveraged social media platforms, celebrity influence, and global engagement to raise awareness and support for gender equality. Social movements grow and succeed through open conversations and different perspectives, which keeps the audience engaged in their purpose. The HeForShe campaign has demonstrated the power of collaboration and social media in amplifying its message. Still, its continued success will depend on its ability to improve, listen to all opinions, and create space for meaningful involvement from individuals who come from diverse communities. By building on its achievements and addressing challenges and criticism, the movement can continue progressing toward ending gender inequality.
Follow its social media pages below to stay updated with the HeForShe movement.
References
References
Frechette, J. (2020). The reverberations of #MeToo on pop culture and politics. In G. Dines & J.
M. Humez (Eds.), Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader (pp. 623-629). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Hay, B. (2022). #HeForShe: Uniting the global community through social media. The Macksey
Journal, 3(1), Article 5.
HeForShe. (n.d.). HeForShe. United Nations. https://www.heforshe.org/en.
Marwick, A., & Boyd, D. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter.
Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 17(2), 139–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856510394539/.
Pennington, R. (2018). making space in social media: #MuslimWomensDay in Twitter. Journal
of Communication Inquiry, 42(3), 601-607.
Rippetoe, R. (2015, April 27). The problem with HeForShe. The Beacon.
https://www.upbeacon.com/article/2015/04/the-problem-with-heforshe-2.
Shorty Awards. (n.d.). UN Women's HeForShe: Solidarity movement for gender equality.
https://shortyawards.com/7th/un-womens-heforshe-solidarity-movement-for-gender-equality.
United Nations. (2014, September 22). Emma Watson at the HeForShe campaign 2014 - official
UN video [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjW9PZBRfk.
UN Women Jordan. (2020, May 11). HeForShe volunteers take over social media to raise
awareness on COVID-19 and gender equality. https://jordan.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/may/heforshe-volunteers-take-over-social-media-to-raise-awareness-on-covid-19-and-gender-equality.
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