Kimberly McIntosh joins GLAMOUR as a Guest Editor for Black History Month. Over the course of the month, Kimberly will be spotlighting and celebrating Black women's stories across the digital, cultural, and physical landscape. For the second instalment in her series, she explores how Black women are creating safe havens online in the face of racist, sexist abuse.
My first experience of online abuse happened after my second TV appearance. I made my debut on TV news in the summer of 2017, my hair pulled back into a tight bun and my face set in a state of permanent alarm, like an animal that’s about to be struck by oncoming traffic. I was more self-assured by the second round but my joy didn’t last long. I’d soon be faced with a racist letter followed by an email calling me amongst other things, a ‘hood bitch’, a ‘narcissist monkey’, and an ‘ugly n***’. Posting about my experience on social media was empowering and people reached out in solidarity.
"Black women’s experiences online are impacted by multiple marginalisations – we experience racism, sexism and the combined force of the two in the form of misogynoir," Seyi Akiwowo, the Founder and CEO of online abuse charity Glitch told GLAMOUR. ‘In news that will surprise no women whatsoever, we found in our Digital Misogynoir Report that misogynoir and misogyny are prevalent across social media,’ she explained.
Glitch analysed nearly one million social media posts about women and found 20% of them to be highly toxic. When they filtered for Black women, this skyrocketed. In their sample, they found 9000 more toxic posts about Black women than white women. This builds on research by Amnesty International, where Black women were found 84% more likely to be mentioned in abusive tweets than white women.
But across the internet, Black women are using social media to build joyful online communities that challenge abuse, curating supportive, protective havens where Black women come together to share their skills and struggles, and bond over shared interests.
“I have sickle-cell anaemia, and I spent a lot of time growing up in hospital with nothing to do - gaming played a pivotal role in saving my life,” Annabel Ashalley-Anthony, the founder of Melanin Gamers told GLAMOUR. “I want black gamers to feel safe online and not have to worry about being trolled because of what they look like.”
“Everyone needs a space where they can fully express themselves without fear, judgement or questions.”
Online gaming bridges the gaps between continents and brings people from different parts of the world together. It’s a powerful and joyful community, but for Black gamers, the experience can be marred by racist and sexist abuse. In a survey of over 1,000 gamers by Preply, more than two in five had experienced racism while playing video games. “When you game, you are supposed to let your guard down, and that is a feeling we should all get to experience,” Annabel explained to GLAMOUR. That’s the reason why she created Melanin Gamers – to advocate for better black representation in the video game industry and as a safe space for gamers to come together.
"Everyone needs a space where they can fully express themselves without fear, judgement or questions. I never even had to clearly define the space as being for Black women; my people just naturally found me," India Chambers, the founder of Casual Readers Book Club told GLAMOUR. “Book Club often ends up feeling like therapy; it's more than just a space to discuss books – it's a space to come together and express our shared experiences.”
Over the past few years, BookTok has blown up, building on the success of bookish communities on Instagram. This has led to stratospheric success for a small number of mostly white writers, creators, and reviewers that reflects wider issues with the publishing industry at large. The growth in Black BookTok and book clubs is an important challenge both online and offline.
"Online is just the precipice. I've made so many amazing friends through the [book]club and know that the same is true for others – we support each other's artistic practices, edit each other's work, buddy read, go to exhibitions together," India added.
Social media helps people to build community, but it also facilitates conversations and raises awareness of important issues. This motivated Simphiwe Sesane to found Black Nurses and Midwives UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Not feeling heard, supported or listened to resonated with so many Black nurses and midwives opening this page. Networking and championing Black nurses and midwives felt needed more than ever," she explained to GLAMOUR. “This has created a community and sense of belonging for me and others, while also raising awareness of health disparities and conditions that can disproportionately affect black people.”
Raising awareness and taking action is important in and of itself, but it can also be the catalyst for significant policy change. The appalling statistic – that the risk of maternal death is almost four times higher for Black women – now makes headline news. But this wasn’t always the case. The Five x More campaign, which grew out of an online community for black mothers, led to black maternal health being discussed in parliament for the first time ever in its history.
“We created Five x More because at the time there was a lot of fear-mongering around Black maternal deaths and we wanted to create a solution,” Tinuke Awe, co-founder of Five x More told GLAMOUR. “It is important to have online communities led by Black women, for Black women because we need to feel safe, protected, heard and listened to.”
These online spaces are a vital resource for Black women in what can be a hostile internet. As is true IRL, we need serious change from government and social media companies, as well friends and allies to make the world a safer place for Black women. The Online Safety Bill that has been given the green light to become law, is a good start. But that alone won’t be enough.
“Online abuse happens because tech companies and governments allow it. Decisions are actively and consistently made to not protect us, but we don’t have to let that be the reality. The only way to support the growth of joyful Black communities online is to end online abuse and the offline violences that make online abuse possible,” Seyi, the Founder and CEO of Glitch told GLAMOUR.
“We need robust safety frameworks and we need them now. Perhaps most importantly, we need and deserve a commitment at all levels to create online platforms and offline structures that, rather than setting the bar solely at “not abusive”, actively and intentionally cultivate and encourage Black joy.”
You can’t ‘magic’ your way into fair treatment or justice.
