Solidarity, Rage and Justice: Transformation and Consciousness-Raising for Contemporary Feminist Activism

This dissertation explores how the feminist digisphere, characterised by the #MeToo movement, offers new spaces for creating political discourse and disclosing individual experiences of sexual violence. It argues that new-wave feminism is intertwined with online spaces and uses consciousness-raising (CR) as a framework to understand the ways digital networked feminism operates as a political movement. The dissertation examines the experiences of survivors who participate in digital feminist activism and how online space informs feminist identities through affect, solidarity, anger, and justice-seeking. The findings assert that CR frameworks can be adapted to understand emerging digital feminisms, explain their evolution and impact, and provide a framework for scholars and activists to undertake contemporary CR in online spaces.