FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM: FEMINIST DIGITAL ACTIVIST STRATEGIES IN POLAND

Tech-savvy, gender-sophisticated feminists are harnessing the affordances of social media to engage in feminist activism and explore novel modes of representation and communication. Characterized as a distinctive feminist wave, the fourth wave of feminism has emerged as a distinctive feminist movement due to its reliance on social media platforms for technological mobilization and representation. On October 22nd, 2020, Poland’s unlawful Constitutional Tribunal declared abortions on the grounds of fatal or severe fetal abnormalities unconstitutional, imposing a near-complete ban on abortion. The ruling was followed by widespread outrage and unprecedented resistance; nearly 480,000 Poles across 410 cities and small towns took to the streets braving tear gas, the threat of prosecution, and a surge of coronavirus cases to stress commitment to modernization and Europeanization, resulting in the largest demonstrations since 1989. The mass mobilization of resistance occurred online, and was marked by intense symbolic activity and connective action with the dissemination of images, memes, hashtags, anti-government slogans, and symbols. This research seeks to gain insights into the Polish artists’ distinctive utilization of symbols, as explored through the following research question: RQ: How do Polish artists employ symbols to visualize and mobilize the Polish feminist movement? To analyze the movement’s symbols, data analysis was conducted using qualitative visual analysis. The final corpus comprised digital content (N = 163 posts) posted on Instagram between April 1st, 2020, and March 12th, 2021, coinciding with the peak of mobilization and the immediate aftermath. The main findings of the visual analysis indicate that the red lightning bolt symbol performs a movement branding function, emotional appeal is evoked through references to the collective memory, pop culture, and the tactical use of color, and iconic symbols such as “***** ***” support collective identity by fueling vernacular creativity. In addition, vulgarisms breach cultural taboos, depictions of angry women function as motivational drivers, hashtags operate as personal action frames, and women reclaim their voice and contest patriarchal signifiers as well as the far-right’s monopoly of nationalist imagery through (re)appropriation and (en)gendering. In this war of symbols, visual artifacts that stand in direct opposition to the dominant order become a legitimate weapon in the struggle for visibility.