ABSTRACT
On December 15, 2013, Suey Park started a conversation about Asian American feminism on Twitter under the hashtag #NotYourAsianSidekick. The hashtag pushed conversations around Asian American feminism to the forefront of both Asian American and feminist online communities, and demanded a space where the two digital publics could converge. #NotYourAsianSidekick produced many conversations in mainstream media, popular media, and academic outlets about the efficacy of hashtags in activism and the many ways that Twitter has been used by racial justice activists. Since its origins in 2006, the platform has provided opportunity for discourse, education, demonstration, organization, and community-building. It is positioned within the larger realm of social media such as Facebook posts, Tumblr blogs, and Instagram images, which re-mediate print media materials like flyers, newsletters, and posters. As part of a strategic and intentional process, the use of hashtags on Twitter can drive discourse about race and racism to generate more visibility for racial justice movements. The hashtag’s power lies in the massive number of contributors, as more tweets enhance a message’s complexity and elevate its reach. While hashtag activism is relatively new to social movement practice, the messages of #NotYourAsianSidekick are not new (Fang 2013; Ma 2013). Hashtags extend and expand ongoing struggles to shift cultural politics around racial discourse, and in this particular case, help us to better understand the intersection between anti-racism and feminism.
