For the two years I’ve been on Twitter, I’ve found it to be a really great place for keeping track of news about gender issues and networking with other feminists.
But for new users, it can be difficult to use Twitter effectively. I often hear people complaining that ”all it is is people talking about what they ate for lunch”. I can also see feminists maybe getting turned off given some of the offensive hashtags that end up becoming trending topics, like #rulesforgirls and #ihatewomenwho.
Although I admit I tweet a fair bit about what I’m eating, there’s a lot more to Twitter than the mundane. I’ve tried to list the top Twitter accounts for feminists to follow in a variety of categories, in no particular order. I follow almost 300 related Twitter accounts and I found it difficult to narrow it down. I’d love to hear in the comments below which accounts you think should be added.
To follow the complete list of feminist accounts I follow, check out the list page here. And follow me and the latest from Gender Focus @jarrahpenguin.
Top Hashtags to Keep an Eye On
- #sheparty – This is a hashtag used for a weekly feminist discussion session hosted by the Women’s Media Center each Wednesday from 12-3 PM EST. It’s a great way to use Twitter to network with other feminists and chat with special guests.
- #fem2 – Probably the most popular catch-all hashtag for feminist topics.
Feminist Media/News
- @bitchmedia – The Twitter account for the Portland-based Bitch Magazine and its blogs.
- @msmagazine – Account for Ms. Magazine and the Ms. Blog.
- @changewomen – The women’s rights account for Change.org.
- @ShamelessMag – Account for Shameless, the awesome Canadian magazine for teen girls.
Margaret Atwood
Authors
- @rebeccawalker – Author of Black, White and Jewish and Baby Love, and editor of collections exploring masculinity and diverse family forms.
- @rtraister – Writer for Salon and author of Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women.
- @MargaretAtwood – Margaret Atwood. She tweets her own stuff. And it’s awesome.
- @peggyorenstein – Author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter.
- @jessicavalenti – Founder of Feministing and author of some of my favourite books for introducing people to feminism.
Canadian Organizations
- @YWCA_Canada – YWCA Canada is Canada’s oldest women’s service organization, but they’re great at adapting to new technologies. In addition to tweeting, they recently came out with the seriously cool Safety Siren iPhone app.
- @LEAFNational – The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund works to ensure women’s equality through the law. I’ll also include a special shout-out to my local @WestCoast_LEAF here in BC.
- @EndingViolence – Battered Women’s Support Services does a great job using their web presence to work to end violence against women while also urging men to take on a role in the struggle.
- @cdnwomenfdn – The Canadian Women’s Foundation is always on top of the latest feminist news on Twitter.
- @WISHWellness – The WISH Drop-in Centre in Vancouver has a great Twitter presence and does invaluable work supporting and improving the health and safety of survival sex trade workers in the City.
- @AbortionRights – The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada works on protecting women’s abortion rights and improving access for Canadian women.
Hollaback!
US Organizations
- @PPact – With Planned Parenthood by the Republicans, the Twitter feminist community has rallied around the organization and its official Twitter account.
- @womensmediacntr – In addition to organizing the weekly #sheparty, the Women’s Media Center looks at women’s representation in the media and also runs the @nameitchangeit account to end sexist media against women in politics.
- @NowYoungFems – The NOW Young Feminist Task Force on Twitter.
- @femmajority – The Feminist Majority Foundation on Twitter. You can also follow their youth wing, who organizes the amazing National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, at @FeministCampus.
- @ihollaback – Ending sexist street harassment using mobile technology.
Canadian Individuals
- @AudreyHuntley – Audrey tweets about Indigenous justice, colonialism, racism, and equality.
- @AntoniaZ – Author of the Toronto Star Broadsides column.
- @jessyee – Jess Yee calls herself “a multiracial Two Spirit Indigenous hip hop feminist reproductive justice freedom fighter”, uncomfortable with the term “feminist” on its own, due to its tendency to adhere to privileged academic narratives. She’s just edited a new book on the subject, Feminism, FOR REAL.
- @judyrebick – Probably the most recognized Canadian feminist on Twitter given her history in the 2nd wave feminist movement in Canada.
American Individuals
- @ShelbyKnox – Shelby burst onto the feminist scene when she was featured in the 2005 documentary The Education of Shelby Knox. Since then she’s been a busy activist in the American feminist movement.
- @anitasarkeesian – Anita is the activist who comes up with all the great @femfreq videos to promote feminist media literacy.
- @sadydoyle – Sady’s the voice behind Tiger Beatdown, who showed herself to be an amazing Twitter activist when she started the #mooreandme hashtag campaign that forced Michael Moore to apologize for offensive comments related to Julian Assange’s rape allegations.
- @jaclynf – A frequent feminist media commentator and co-author of Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape.
- @jennpozner – Media critic and author of Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV.
Gender Across Borders
Global Feminist Focused
- @safeworld4women – Never miss an update on issues around violence against women worldwide.
- @awid – The Association for Women’s Rights in Development.
- @gabblog – Gender Across Borders is an international group of feminists who look at gender issues.
- @PixelProject – The Pixel Project uses online tools to raise awareness of and money for ending violence against women worldwide.
Feminist Blogs
- @Shakestweetz – The account for Shakesville founder Melissa McEwan.
- @feministing – The account for the popular feminist blog featuring news and pop culture deconstruction from up-and-coming young feminist bloggers.
- @FairandFeminist – Fair and Feminist has been extremely successful using Twitter to organize other bloggers for Blog Carnivals on topics like “This is What A Young Feminist Looks Like” and “I Stand with Planned Parenthood.”
- @feministfatale – The always entertaining account for Melanie Klein and her blog Feminist Fatale.
- @TheDailyFemme – One of my favourite feminist blogs for regularly covering original and creative topics.
- @the_fbomb – For those who think there are no young feminists, The F Bomb proves you wrong with its insightful posts by teenage feminists.
Melissa Harris-Perry
Antiracist
- @racialicious – The account for the blog that’s “the intersection of race and pop culture”.
- @MHarrisPerry – Anyone who’s seen her as a contributor on MSNBC knows how incredibly smart and insightful Melissa Harris-Perry is talking about politics, race, and gender.
- @TheRoot247 – Twitter account for the thought-provoking digital magazine The Root.
- @JessieNYC – CUNY Professor Jessie Daniels tweets and blogs about race.
- @colorlines – Up-to-the-minute tweets on racial justice issues and news.
LGBTQ2S
- @JoeMyGod – The Twitter Account for the thorough and entertaining blog Joe.My.God.
- @GLSEN – The US-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and it’s Vancouver-based counterpart @outinschools.
- @xtra_canada – LGBT news, based in Canada.
- @ItGetsBetter – Official account for Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project.
Empowering Girls
- @pigtailpals – Melissa Wardy’s company and blog try to redefine girly to promote self-esteem and break down gender barriers for girls.
- @_GirlsAction – Group working on programs for girls across Canada.
- @girls_inc – Non-profit dedicated to empowering girls.
- @thelinecampaign – The Line Campaign does a great job raising awareness of rape culture and encouraging sexual empowerment.
Feminist Hulk
Making Activism Fun
- @andreagrimes – Andrea is a great feminist blogger but I put her in this section because her tweets are some of the most hilarious I’ve seen. She makes you laugh and think at the same time.
- @GuerrillaGsOT – Account for the feminist performance artists the Guerrilla Girls.
- @feministhulk – “HULK SAYS F*** PATRIARCHY. HULK HERE TO SMASH GENDER BINARY.”
- @feministbieber – “Letting go of my silky bowl cut was a big step, but a necessary one for me to wear the banner of the movement to end sexist oppression.”
Who else is a feminist must-follow on Twitter?
-Jarrah
Hey Jarrah! This is a great list – Would you consider adding @thelinecampaign under US Feminist Orgs or Empowering Girls? We are a multi-media movement raising awareness about violence against women, rape culture, and sexual empowerment. More about our work: whereisyourline.org
Hi Nancy,
Sorry about missing you! I do follow you guys and don’t know how you got left off. I’ve added you under Empowering Girls :)
Fabulous list! I’d love too see an allies section, but now I’m just being picky! Thanks for making this : D
Thanks for the suggestion. I’d be intersted to hear which accounts you’d pick for that list.
Unfortunately, I can’t think of many allies’ twitter accounts. I only know of websites.
But,@MenCanStopRape is where I would start on twitter!
Good call – another one off the top of my head that I follow is @whiteribbon – for the White Ribbon Campaign Canada.
Another great suggestion: @AWHL – Assaulted Women’s Helpline (Canadian VAW org very active on twitter).
Hi! Thank you for this amazing list! This is a shameless plug, but my identical twin and I are doctoral students in media studies and body image activists who are just getting started on Twitter @Takebackbeauty. We speak/teach media literacy that helps guys and girls recognize and reject harmful media messages that keep us from getting on to anything and everything more important. We post shorter version of all of our latest research at beautyredefined.net and tweet it all, including major analyses on Victoria’s Secret, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, the Body Mass Index, women’s health and fitness magazines, Gossip Girl, etc. Finally, we feature strategies for rejecting dangerous ideals for both sexes and empowering ourselves in authentic ways. It’s good stuff and we believe in this powerful work! Thanks for letting me plug this work :)
Hi, Thanks for the list. See Jane Do (@SeeJaneDo) seems like it would also be a perfect fit. We are a social change multimedia organization that captures the stories of everyday women doing extraordinary things for the planet. Our radio program is featured on KVMR and we are the producers of the Passion Into Action Women’s Conference. Thanks!
Fantastic list! I would definitely add @Womens_eNews for feminist news, and @glaad for LGBT news! Thanks for all the suggestions!
Great list! My hubby hates twitter because he doesn’t think anything important can be said in 140 characters, but with all the revolutions and uprisings lately, both in the US and overseas, I think Twitter has proved itself as an importan part of social media, networking and journalism. I use it to keep up on reproductive rights issues (#prochoice!) and body acceptance.
Thank you so much for including Pigtail Pals and my work in the company of such great women and groups! This is a fabulous list and I look forward to sharing and promoting the work by the individuals on it.
Wonderful, thank you! For those interested, please follow me as well. I am a feminist cartoonist and blogger: http://whendotheyservethewine.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/lizadonnelly
This is wonderful!! There are so many important twitter accounts to follow that I am sure it’s impossible to include them all. In the next segment (another shameless plug) I would include a section on Twitter accounts/feminist activists who speak on women in academia (i.e. @refusesilence). But this list is beautiful! Thanks for including so many friends.
Wonderfully comprehensive! I’ll just add that the Fem2.0 blog actually grew out of the #fem2 hashtag that you mention. You can find us at http://www.fem2pt0.com and on Twitter at @fem2pt0. Thanks for following!
Thanks for the background – I wasn’t sure which came first!
Thank you so much for adding The Daily Femme to the list! This is a great go to for following on twitter–really appreciate it!
Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions! I’ve added all of them to my feminist list on Twitter.
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