The power of social media activism in the #YesAllWomen Movement

Social media has played a significant role in activism, with hashtags becoming a powerful tool for community organizing and raising awareness about social and political issues. Twitter, now X, supported the rise of hashtag activism. The hashtag #YesAllWomen gained widespread attention in 2014 after the murder of six women in retribution for one man’s feelings of rejection. Women used #YesAllWomen to publicly share experiences with sexism, harassment, and violence and as a space to seek validation and solidarity. This study explored #YesAllWomen tweets to better understand how the hashtag influenced discussions around self-disclosure, support, backlash, and activism regarding violence against women. We sampled publicly available tweets (2014–2021) and found 38,500 #YesAllWomen tweets across 32 countries. We used topic modeling and qualitative analysis to explore meaning and themes. We identified four key themes in the tweets using #YesAllWomen: trepidation; backlash, hatefulness, and trolling; unity and support; and hashtag activism. The most prominent themes expressed a desire and intention to share stories and promote change. Though violence against women remains pervasive, hashtag activism has created an opportunity to promote real movement within individuals and communities through healing, support, and the potential for social change.