#HASHTAG CAMPAIGNS
Hashtag campaigns are when people support or start a campaign on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other networking websites. Hashtag campaigns are often used to spread the word and connect comments and ideas about a particular topic, issue or cause over Twitter or Instagram.
#helpinghands is a hashtag campaign inviting people to write a personal pledge on their hands and post on social media to help raise awareness of Child Sexual Exploitation.
There are many global hashtag campaigns that address gender equalities, sexual violence and domestic abuse.
The #ICommit tweetathon, led by the Association for Women’s Development (AWID) Young Activism community (YFA), campaigned to raise global awareness of how people of all ages work together to support gender equality work and activism.
The #MeToo movement is a campaign against sexual harassment and sexual assault. #MeToo spread virally in October 2017, although it was founded by Tarana Burke in 2006 It is credited with bringing conversations about sexual violence into the mainstream. metoomvmt.org
Read about how you can campaign to end human trafficking and so-called honor-based violence.
What is child sexual exploitation? See Banardo’s Cymru’s resource created for young people with young people.
AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development) is an international organization that works to achieve gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights worldwide.
BRIDGE is a Gender and Social Movements organisation where you can find lots of research and online materials about how people and groups have brought a gender perspective to social justice movements across the world. They have a really useful gender and social movements glossary too.
YFA (Young feminist Wire) is an online community run for and by young feminists working on women’s human rights, gender equality and social justice worldwide. They have lots of reports and tool kits that can help young people in their change-making work, including a great DIY guide on internet safety for young activists.
TUMBLR
Tumblr is a blogging website where you can share photos, gifs, video, music, quotes, chats, links, and text to find and follow what you want. Tumblr sites, like blogs, can be made personal and private.
Rose began blogging on Tumblr when she was 14: “It’s a safe space where you can learn and discuss issues that you might not be able to in real life, like mental health or body image”.
Rose, who grew up in Bridgend, now moderates the official Tumblr for the Everyday Sexism Project. The Everyday Sexism Project is a website where women can upload the sexism they face on a daily basis. By sharing these stories, the project raises awareness of the “everyday, small, so-used-to-it-you-almost-just-accept-it sexism”.
YoungMindsVs campaigns for change that they hope will improve the mental health of children and young people. Topics include bullying, sexualisation, unemployment, school stress and counselling. Find out how to become a YoungMinds activist or follow #gettingthroughit.
For how everyday sexism shapes children and young people’s lives, read the stories and quotes from the Girls and Boys Speak Out project and the downloadable postcards on everyday sexism, sexual harassment and change.
Heads above the waves (@HATW_uk) is a non-profit organization that raises awareness of depression and self-harm in young people. Their website includes young people’s blogs, over 15 different support sites and helplines, and creative ways of coping with self-harm and depression.
Make your own meme here with the meme creator.
Check out the ‘killer comebacks’ ZipIt memes created by Childline to combat unwanted sexually explicit messages or requests.
What would you make?
VLOGGING
Vlogging is when people share their ideas through video.
Listen to how teen girls are flipping the negatives of social media. Some are creating sites that encourage tagged comments that empower not shame young women. Others fight back against sexist uniform dress codes.
Read more about young people who blog and vlog on issues of gender and sexual diversity.
Sarah is a vlogger from Vancouver, Canada.
When she was 13 she made a vlog about why slut-shaming is wrong.
Using their voice, text, images and a glitch-art app, a group of Year 6 students created a vlog about how the media focuses on negative stories, like violence and terror, and filters out what people are doing to change things.
Watch their video ‘Filtering Our Feelings’ here.
Read more about the i-motion project here.
Read about the transnational SlutWalk movement where people of all ages marched the streets to call an end to a culture which excuses sexual violence by referring to any aspect of a girl or woman’s appearance.
See Project Awesome for how young bloggers and vloggers are raising money for real world issues, including gender and sexual equality issues.
Download this Idea for Change PDF here:
