Sticky Notes, Headline Politics, and the Density of Space

How could I possibly look at the measly 280 characters that we are accustomed to condensing our thoughts into and feel that a fair effort was put into creating and reading this person’s opinion?

Jinsook Kim’s article - full stop - changed my mind. She writes about the feminist movement that took place following the Gangnam station murder case. Thousands of women wrote short messages on sticky notes, baring their souls and hurt for the world to see. Sticky notes – remember those? Its interesting to think that sticky notes themselves are “almost vintage”. But, you see, that’s what makes this special. These sentences aren’t getting lost in cyber-space, where everyone already expects there to be noise all the time. They are making their own visual space in a place and mode that we don’t expect. Despite none of these notes being any longer than your average tweet, I hardly needed more words to understand what was being expressed. Jinsook writes that sticky activism's defining traits are “(1) material protest artifacts such as sticky notes, (2) an audience’s attention to and participation in a media text, and (3) the circulation and accumulation of affect.” This form of activism and expression works because, well, it sticks. Every translated post-it note was like a punch to the gut, all layering on top of each other in an unrelenting stream. These women were feeling deep, guttural pain and they didn’t need 10 pages of MLA cited jargon to express it. (swipe through below)

The use of short, pointed messages simultaneously allows different women to embody the same space while also making a new space or rather transforming the same space into something with more body and volume. And that is totally rad. The space seems more full and lively if there are a thousand voice contributing one of their thoughts rather than one voice contributing a thousand thoughts. The space is the same, but the density is different. With this, I realize that my issue with platforms like twitter being used for political discourse isn't the lack of one person's nuance – the issue is that the space is simultaneously vast and packed. Current online movements feel incomplete to me because I have to sift and search in order to find related content that is relevant and genuine. Jinsook’s article taught me that some movements don’t need more meandering paragraphs and rant-like prose and and and and and, some movements could benefit from a smaller platform that make it easier to view in it's entirety while creating a lower barrier to entry. Sticky activism is impossible to ignore let alone difficult to find.

This brings us to the issues of access. It was wack of me to think that because someone's opinion lacks length it means that it is any less thought-out or backed-by-emotion or important or necessary. With sticky note activism, any woman with lived experience can participate and access a movement.

There will always be a need for explanation and nuance but who could argue the impact of: “Don’t walk alone late at night. Don’t wear a short mini skirt. Be careful when you go to a public restroom. What more can I do to survive?” And that, dear readers, isn’t that the type of radical empathy that change requires?

XOXO,

Be!!aTheSwannn.com

P.S

To hear more from Jinsook Kim, check out this podcast: CLICK ME :)