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When Shaming Is Shameful: Double Standards in Online Shame Backlashes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Karen Adkins
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Abstract

Recent defenses of shaming as an effective tool for identifying bad practice and provoking social change appear compatible with feminism. I complicate this picture by examining two instances of online feminist shaming that resulted in shame backlashes. Shaming requires the assertion of social and epistemic authority on behalf of a larger community, and is dependent upon an audience that will be receptive to the shaming testimony. In cases where marginally situated knowers attempt to “shame up,” it presents challenges for feminist uses.

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Hypatia , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , Winter 2019 , pp. 76 - 97
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Copyright © 2019 by Hypatia, Inc.

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