Cyber-activism against sexual violence: #BringBackOurGirls

Abstract

Over the last few years, many successful campaigns have both denounced women's vulnerabilities and protested against gender violence. The success of these campaigns can be gauged by the number of their followers, spreading the message and involving celebrities and agencies around the world. Those campaigns have put gender inequality and women's protests against sexual abuse firmly on the agenda. However, this still raises questions as to both the limits to and opportunities for cyber-activism in general and in strife-ridden areas in particular. This paper addresses the influence of digital campaigns against sexual violence, exploring the impact of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, which covers the kidnapping of a large group of girls in Nigeria by the Boko Haram terrorist group. Among other things, we find that the campaign narrowly focused on a group ('The Chibok Girls'), ignoring the vulnerability of many other girls and young women in Nigeria.