Feminist activism and digital networks. Between empowerment and vulnerability in a hyper connected world.

What happens when you mix feminism with social media? You get IMPOWER, Divya Kalra’s powerful online campaign that combats discrimination against women. Our Fashion Media Communication student singlehandedly launched the “I am Power, I Empower” war cry into digital space through the portals of Instagram, Facebook and a dedicated website. The hashtag #IAmPowerIEmPower binds together like-minded women who convene at this virtual space to support each other against objectification.

The mission statement of the Empower Campaign is to “decrease self-objectification resulting from temporal and peer comparisons that stem from the social media culture.” In short, #IAmPowerIEmpower seeks to reduce the feelings of de-personalization that results from carefully curating and editing an online persona, while constantly measuring it up to the filtered projections of others.

Community members align with the Impower Movement by signing a pledge. By doing so they vow to “be critical of what they consume on social media” and to “honour everyone’s expression of themselves” online. Such a pledge seems necessary in a world where there have been countless suicides of young teenagers who were bullied on various social media platforms. Divya’s #IamPowerIEmpower campaign persuades her peers to become aware of the distorted sense of self virtual reality perpetuates and the pitfalls of communicating with each other while remaining hidden behind a screen. Her project is an important wake-up call for a selfie-obsessed culture and an excellent strategy for educating the youth on how to use the medium of social media in a way that promotes positive self-image, content sharing and empowerment.

DIVYA KALRA
School of Media
Cohort: FMC 2013-2017