In phase 1 of our interviews, we asked participants to share screenshots of feminist social media they engaged with. Here’s a snapshot of the feminist influencers they appraised and discussed.
Abbie Chatfield, Flex Mami and Clementine Ford.
Abbie Chatfield
I think she is a big reason why I’ve been able to broaden my understanding of feminism and, and yeah, like I was saying about what it, what it means to be like a woman.
Lucy, 21
She really just talks very casually and she’s very outspoken, but I really like what she says. I feel like she doesn’t tear down other women, which – which is nice… And it’s just very, very casual… sort of like talking to a friend, it’s sort of… the casual way of talking about it that I would talk about it with my friends.
Ally, 25
She could really easily have made a lot of money just by being hot and pretty. And she could have, you know, just talking about sex and dating and things like that.
Xanthe, 25
Clementine Ford
“I think she does fantastic work, but she’s also makes a lot of money off some feminism she makes and she’s been noted to plagiarise Indigenous authors. So like it comes with the downsides of what feminism can be to me, which is the co-opting of a movement. It’s the Neo liberalism, it’s the white feminism, that kind of thing that I like, I, I find problematic.”
Sam, 28
I really liked her books Fight like a girl and Boys will be boys. I thought they were really well-written and I’m trying to get my mum to read them, but she’s like ‘ahh’ [hesitant noise], and I’m like ‘no no, read them. They’re good!’
Sam, 22
I mean, I don’t know what Clem Ford did before 2010 cause I was too young, but I remember hearing about her around that time. Whereas the rest of [the feminist influencers I follow], I think I have found in the last two years … I think I actually appreciate that older perspective because if you look at everyone here, they’re all in their twenties, particularly early twenties… besides her, I don’t actually know exactly how old she gets, but she’s yeah, definitely older than them.
Jess, 20
Flex Mami
“She definitely doesn’t try to cater to a certain audience. She just purely says what she thinks and really doesn’t care if people agree with it. And like a lot of stuff she says I disagree with, but I still like that about her.
Ava, 18
She was kind of saying you don’t owe your friends anything just because they’re your friends. So you don’t owe them your time or you don’t have to listen to them or… I don’t know. Stuff like that. And I, I guess that didn’t really resonate with me because I feel like if someone is a really close friend, I would do a lot for them, but I think that’s definitely a message that she puts out.
Amy, 23
She has heaps of followers but she refuses to be everyone’s teacher about all these concepts, which I found really interesting… it can be such a burden, especially on women of colour, to explain their lived experience to white women who don’t get it as much. So again, I really like her for that.
Willow, 20
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