Abstract
Young girls have historically been symbols to be conjured by social movements to garner sympathy for social causes, but are frequently silenced as political agents. This study addresses the celebrification of non-celebrity girls such as Emma González, Greta Thunberg, and Marley Dias and analyzes how backlash politics promote their fame. Some ordinary girls become celebrity activists in part because the trolling and negative media coverage helps propel their visibility, while others enjoy relatively positive experiences with fame. Both of these types of representations of celebrity girl activists - whether fueled by backlash or not -can serve as cautionary tales or as inspiration for girls who wish to engage in activism. Through an intersectional feminist lens, I address the complex social media narratives that emerge about girl empowerment and negotiation of risk - emphasis on self-care and struggle - when girls are famous activists.
Introduction
The notable emergence of celebrity activist girls during the 2010s demonstrates the undeniable appeal of girls engaging in social justice work. Activist girls such as Malala Yousafzai have inspired millions of people across ages, races, genders, religions, and nationalities to action in recent years (Kastner, 2018). At young ages, girls also bravely navigate arduous paths through fame and activism that are often marked by vicious backlash against their politics and selves. The challenges facing contemporary girl activists exists in the context of a long history of backlash against feminist and female political action (Faludi, 1991). The digital era is fraught with the danger of vilification in social media, news reports, and memes for some girl activists. Physical dangers and harassment also exist for girls and women who challenge the status quo - either after they become famous activists or as violent incidents that catapult them to notoriety, as was the case with Yousafzai. The hostility of cyberspace for girls and women is well-documented, with rampant misogyny, doxxing, and harassment online being commonplace (Banet-Weiser & Miltner, 2016). In fact, as activism by girls gains prominence, a concerted backlash against some of them arose alongside the rise of authoritarianism internationally. In only one disturbing example of real-world consequences for female activists, the most prominent young women to advocate for women's driving rights in Saudi Arabia have been arrested, tortured, and jailed for years as political prisoners (Hincks, 2020).
Even as the accomplishments and visibility of girl activists demand recognition, the equally visible backlash against famous girl activists compels me to ask how even the most celebrated girl activists might serve as cautionary tales that discourage some girls from taking action (Mazzarella, 2019). Understanding how girls become activists is vital to scholarship and community organizing, but it is also necessary to grapple with constraints of all kinds that might inhibit girls from becoming activists. Focusing solely on the successes of girls who become famous for their activism should not lead us to underestimate the challenges that girl activists face—or how publicizing those struggles might even promote individualistic narratives that could potentially deter collective action. Activist spaces can be dangerous for girls and women, but media spaces can also be profoundly marginalizing and problematic.
Based on extensive surveillance of media coverage of girls, activism, and celebrity, it became apparent that a number of girls engaging in social action may receive similar recognition by gatekeeping institutions - governmental, media, activist, philanthropic, or otherwise - but not attain celebrity status (Healy, 2018; Onion, 2018). Therefore, this research analyzes girls who become activists and also become famous for their activism, primarily in United States media. Criteria for selecting the girls to include in this analysis were that they a) be recognized in media texts as activists, b) self-identify as activists, c) have achieved notable fame, d) have gained sustained media and institutional recognition during approximately the same time period. By selecting three girls - Marley Dias, Emma González, and Greta Thumberg - from sharply different backgrounds who became public figures for their activism in three vastly different areas, my analysis of the narratives of how they become activists and the process by which they become celebrities considers their intersectional identities and the nuances of their social actions. Marley Dias, an 11-year-old African American girl, garnered media attention in the United States when she launched a fundraising campaign in 2016 to help diversify school libraries to include more books about Black girls. Cuban American teenager Emma González catapulted to prominence in 2018 as a survivor and gun control activist after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where she was a senior. Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg first gained attention as a lone climate change protester in Stockholm and later rose to fame as a speaker at meetings of the United Nations. All three activists have been routinely included in lists of notable girl activists compiled by news organizations (Connley, 2018) and NGOs (Regmi, 2019; UNICEF, n.d.; UN WOMEN, 2020), as well as being featured in high-profile media outlets (Castillo, 2018; Eller, 2018; Felsenthal, 2019; Khan, 2017), major political (Rice, 2018) and entertainment events (Haylock, 2018; Variety Staff, 2018), and heralded by established celebrities who bestow status on them through association (Haring, 2019; Logan, 2018; Stern, 2018).
Girls “Becoming” Activists
Scholars note that in the digital era, celebrities may utilize their visibility and social media presence to first raise awareness of an issue and then influence how audiences — particularly young audiences — engage in political action. Austin et al. (2008) argue that young people may identify with celebrities and be receptive to their political positions. However, a darker side of celebrity girl activism may be the potential for audiences to see young girls who engage in activism as suffering for their willingness to step into the political arena and raise their voices (Abad-Santos, 2018). Ordinary girls who narrate their experiences and identities as activists offer insights in the complex relational work that leads to activism (Keller, 2012). In line with coming of age narratives, girls see themselves as growing into activism over time. “Girl activists’ emphasis on themselves as still ‘becoming’ rather than ‘being’ activists enables a valuable political flexibility, openness, and the mobilisation of their peers but also has the unintended consequence of contributing to their own invisibility and to the widespread dismissal of young people's politics as merely practice for the future” (Taft, 2017, p. 28).
The narrative of “becoming” focuses on ordinariness and growth in young people exploring their own positionality and politics (Taft, 2017). Just as people tell stories in person that bond communities, oppose the status quo, and inspire new generations of activists, so too do media stories - and how those media stories circulate is paramount to understanding the celebrification of girl activists and their impact on audiences. The narratives that define social movements often fixate on protagonists and seek to make emotional connections, but the extent to which stories resonate doesn't necessarily mean that audiences will be inspired to action or moved to identify as activists themselves (Polletta, 2006). “Girls’ activist coming of age narratives highlight the process by which they, ordinary girls, become activists. Anyone, they say, can become an activist” (Taft, p. 37). Teenage peers in particular socialize each other into political activism by making each other feel welcome and adequate to the tasks at hand (Gordon & Taft, 2010). Pressures to be perfect, however, can derail girls from fully identifying as activists even when they engage in social movements. As Bobel (2007) argues, there is a tension between “doing activism” and “being activist” that often relates to how people see themselves measuring up to the “perfect standard” that “places the esteemed identity activist out of reach for many social movement actors who deem themselves unworthy” (150).
Herein lies the potential downside of celebrity girl activism: If girl activists who become celebrities are exceptional and provide the ultimate embodiment of a perfect activist for fans, might that signal that ordinary girls will never measure up? Bobel contends that identity and action need not align in order for people to contribute to social movements, so to some extent ordinary girls may follow in the footsteps of celebrity girl activists - marching, protesting - but not fully adopting the seemingly unattainable identity of activist for themselves. Bent and Switzer (2016) report on findings from interviews with girl-delegates to the United Nations that the fixation on girls as idealized citizens in Western media narratives “relies on an image of empowered girlhood that corresponds with notions of postfeminist neoliberalism and adolescent female exceptionalism” (p. 33). The necessity of creating stories that lift girl activists up as singular belies the extent to which youth undercuts their ability to make sustained and substantive social change because “In the hallways of power, age and generation deter political representatives from taking genuine, intentional interest in young people or their concerns” (Bent, 2019, p. 62). In fact, Ryalls and Mazzarella (2021) point out that “framing of Thunberg as the hero of the climate change movement focuses on what we love about her as opposed to the collective work needed to end climate change” (p. 12). Similarly, Bent argues that González is able to intentionally wield her exceptional status to share an authentically challenging voice. “Reading González as a public feminist intellectual makes plain the desires, political commitments, and risks girl activists take as active participants in public life. Her visibility illustrates not only the tenuous relationship girl activists have to girl-power feminism but also girl activists’ struggles to maintain authentic voices and visions as their own” (Bent, 2020, p. 799).
While I agree that girl activists are uniquely positioned to promote activist messages and wield visibility to find and use their authentic voices, I also contend that they are the target of uniquely vitriolic backlash that perpetuates misogyny and racism as well as drives celebrification.
Fame in recent years has been increasingly intertwined with activism as audiences and stars alike have come to support the belief that with media visibility comes a responsibility to engage in a range of activist and humanitarian actions. The passions and causes of celebrities can, in turn, become the interests of fans. Fan activism (Jenkins, 2012) mobilizes fans to action, both in support of causes championed by their favored celebrities and through the remixing of celebrity images, messages, and symbolism to create new political initiatives. Girls who become famous because of their activism are the subject of the same criticisms that follow celebrities who become famous before becoming activists as audiences and critics interrogate their authenticity, their commitment to causes, and how they use their fame to make a difference or use their activism to increase their fame.
Celebrities can raise awareness of issues and inspire action, but they can also serve as cautionary tales by exemplifying dangers, risks, and humiliations. Research into celebrity gossip media texts and audience behaviors illuminate how women and girls in particular communicate about celebrities in their everyday lives. “Gossip about celebrities negotiates the boundaries between the public and private selves, allowing audiences to use these images as anchors for discussion of larger social issues that shape everyday life” (Meyers, 2015 ). As girl activists rise to visibility, they become “talked about” in media spaces that audiences can use to negotiate their own understandings of social issues, power structures, and self identities.
Cultural Process of Celebrification
Ordinary people become celebrities through nonlinear communicative processes with “precise moments” that reveal the logics of celebrity culture (Jerslev, 2016). Collective elevation of individuals to fame “can be seen as a media ritual” with discernable patterns (Driessens, 2012, p. 643). “A celebrification approach studies how performances of celebrity unfold: ways in which celebrity logic's ‘grammar’ (Altheide & Snow, 1979) frames the negotiation and restructuring of the public-private and ordinary-extraordinary dimensions depending on media and media-historical contexts.” Jerslev, 2016, p. 5237
Grounded in celebrity studies theory, my analysis of celebrification focuses on charismatic figures who achieve celebrity and galvanize followers, fans, and opponents around a specific social issue. Studying the celebrification of ordinary girls requires accounting for both the role of social media spectacle as well as media industry practices that commodify and promote them (Driessens, 2012). Identifying traceable points in the process by which ordinary girls rise to fame through their political or social actions, we can identify patterns in the manufacture of fame (Gamson, 1992).
First, I gathered media texts including Twitter, Instagram, blogs, high-profile news and popular media to gain a broad understanding of the media representations and public images of each girl.
Celebrification of Girl Activists
Before discussing patterns it is first necessary to establish timelines and context for the celebrification of Dias, González, and Thunberg. What follows is an effort to address both the unique characteristics of each girl and the key moments in their transformations from “ordinary” to “extraordinary” girl activist celebrities.
Emma González, gun Control Activist
Unsurprisingly, Google Trends shows that searches for “Emma González” peaked in the two weeks after her first public appearance - her “we call B.S.” speech delivered immediately after the school shooting that went viral - and the two weeks surrounding the March for Our Lives protest in Washington, D.C. one month later (Hafner, 2018; Rhodan, 2018). The results show that public appearances and media coverage of the two events drove curiosity about González. Interestingly, Google Trends also provides suggested popular related searches - meaning searches that were commonly also run by people about Emma González. The suggested popular search “Emma González memes” indicates that many searchers were not just interested in factual information about González, but in the social media discourse and images circulating about her. Therefore, I collected the top memes that show up in a Google search for “Emma González memes” in order to analyze the images that searchers would find. The results were overwhelmingly racist, homophobic, and derogatory. The celebrification of González was driven by her public appearances and social media presence (Beckett, 2019; This Parkland student, 2018). However, two key media incidents also demonstrate the role that backlash played in propelling her fame.
Almost as soon as she emerged into the public sphere, she became a target of right wing critics (How Emma González, 2018). On March 25, 2018, Congressman Steve King posted a meme on Facebook that featured a photo of González with her eyes closed, standing at a podium, wearing her signature green jacket with political pins and patches. The accompanying text read “This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don't speak Spanish and ignore that fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self defense.” The multi-faceted criticism of her culture, heritage, and politics implied that she was inauthentic and uninformed (Schmidt, 2018). King, who was sanctioned by Congressional colleagues for white supremacist behaviors, joined the bevy of right wing critics who lashed out at González for supporting gun control, identifying as a socialist lesbian Cuban (Uyehara, 2018). His prominence and history of racist ideology and policies sparked a wave of media coverage about his post. The Washington Post, CNN, and numerous other mainstream news outlets blasted out reports on King mocking and criticizing González. Within days, the incident inspired prominent lawmakers and journalists to defend González and lambast King, driving a news cycle that also included a Politifact entry devoted to fact-checking the meme King shared.
As the March for Our Lives protest gained momentum, González became a target for online trolling and right-wing vilification (Stevens, 2018). She and fellow survivors appeared on the cover of Time and one photo of her inside the magazine caused a second news cycle of backlash and defense. Against an orange backdrop, dressed in a fitted black shirt and black pants, the original photo shows González ripping a paper shooting target in half. The image was swiftly photoshopped by an anonymous troll to make it appear that she was ripping a paper copy of the U.S. constitution (Danner, 2018). The edited image went viral and fed the right-wing narrative that González was an anti-American communist. As with the meme shared by Steve King, prominent defenders soon debunked the doctored image and by March 26, 2018, The Washington Post published an analysis headlined “How Emma González became an enemy of the far right.”
González's fame was clearly propelled by conservative outrage and the cycle of backlash and defense that kept her name and image in media (Witt, 2018; Young activists, 2018). González is divisively vilified by opponents and idolized by supporters, but what is the message that might be sent to casual observers? Her celebrity persona is one of singularity – even when she is seeking to present herself as an ordinary girl who mobilizes ordinary citizens, media texts reinforce her extraordinariness. Magazine covers, the number of Twitter followers, her presence at major events all combine to celebrify González and set her apart from ordinary girls - and ordinary activists. Her appearance, emotions, words, and actions are characterized by conservative critics as threatening, while progressive supporters found her empowering; her ethnicity and sexuality are also symbolic of the perceived threats to conservative ideology while also signifying diversity and inclusive politics to supporters. Though Bent (2020) rightly points out that all of the youth-activists who experienced the school shooting with González presented themselves as a collective voice, backlash attention remained firmly focused on González, perpetuating her celebrification for a time.
Marley Dias, Education Activist
In stark contrast to González, Marley Dias became a celebrity activist for engaging with an arguably innocuous issue. After realizing that her school library books did not feature girls of color as protagonists, Dias started a book drive to collect #1000BlackGirlBooks for school libraries. Dias sparked adoration and garnered the attention of media, cultural power players, and prestigious institutions, but unlike Emma González, there is no significant outrage directed towards her. As a young Black girl stepping into discourse about Blackness, white privilege, and equity in school settings, Dias could potentially have sparked outpourings of misogynoir in backlash against her. However, the one meager attempt at hijacking her signature hashtag failed with only a few tweets using “#1000whitegirlbooks” to claim that her work is racist against whites. No concerted backlash against her could be found that rose to the level of propelling her celebrification.
In fact, journalists, philanthropists, and leaders - including Michelle Obama and Oprah - lauded Dias as photogenic, happy, youthful, smart, and passionate. She was an invited speaker at major events, received a book deal, appeared on the cover of magazines, and launched a media outlet in partnership with Elle (Terrell, 2016). Famous for her infectious smile and funky glasses, Dias rose to prominence with little-to-no prominent criticism. She wrote a popular children's book, Marley Dias Gets it Done: And So Can You! (2018), and made regular appearances at conventions and other events promoting diversity and education (Khan, 2017). However, she received very little news attention compared to González and did not achieve anything like the widespread recognition that appears to be driven by controversy. When considered in the context of González's fame, Dias offers a compelling counterimage. She is both successful in achieving specific, tangible philanthropic goals, while also avoiding controversy and backlash. In terms of understanding celebrity girl activism, she seems to indicate that lack of backlash and a lower level of fame go hand-in-hand. Dias has carved out a position as a niche celebrity in the arena of Black girl educational empowerment where fellow activists and experts support and promote her (Nunn, 2018). Within that milieu, her Black girl identity is celebrated in community rather than criticized as threatening (Brown, 2009).
Greta Thunberg, Climate Change Activist
Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg drew international media fame after staging a solo protest to draw attention to climate change and going viral for her remarks at the World Economic Forum in January, 2019. Thunberg became the subject of a significant New York Times profile headlined “Becoming Greta: ‘Invisible Girl’ to Global Climate Activist, With Bumps Along the Way” on February 28, 2019, and continued to generate attention through viral social media moments. Thunberg's consistent, long-term protest garnered serious media coverage that acknowledged her persistence and made her a more prominent target for critics. Her visibility was conditional on her stoicism and the early frame of respect in initial media reports continued unabated during the months that she remained in the spotlight. Critics emerged to counter her message or demean her based on her age, but the backlash was - at first - far less vicious than the trolling directed at González. By late 2019, however, she would be engaged in a (mostly one-sided) feud with Donald J. Trump, which would catalyze the backlash against her from conservative political circles (Stracqualursi, 2019).
Thunberg's emotional speeches, much like Gonazlez's, provided still images that are easily meme-ified to make her appear unhinged - the anger, tears, and intense emotions that resonate with supporters are reframed by critics as negative images. Combining emotional images with words that reframe Thunberg as whiny, throwing a tantrum, being a crybaby, and being mentally unbalanced were common tactics for critics in the months between addressing the World Economic Forum and speaking at the United Nations Climate Summit a year later (Bloch, 2018; Barboza, 2019). The backlash against her contained sometimes thinly veiled allusions to her history of depression as contributing to emotional instability, while other blatant attacks treated her as mentally incompetent because of her Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis or claimed that her facial features revealed that she was suffering from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Whereas González's fame was propelled by backlash, Thunberg's rising prominence seems to have been treated as a threat that needed to be met with force. As she challenged powerful - primarily male and conservative - global leaders, she became targeted by a concerted effort to diminish her standing as an influential activist. The spectacle of powerful male leaders rhetorically attacking a young girl drove dual narratives that she was at once vulnerable and in need of supporters to defend her while simultaneously demonstrating her own strength in withstanding attack and rallying supporters to feel empowered as part of a global movement. Thunberg's public discussion of her autism as strengthening her activism and improving her struggles with depression only contributes to the presentation of her as having a singular “super-power” that sets her apart from other girls, other celebrities, and other activists (Ryalls & Mazzarella, 2021, p. 7).
González was targeted with racist attacks because of her Latina identity, but Thunberg's whiteness, Europeanness, and relative wealth were routinely cast in memes and social media posts as privileged identities that undermined her political message. Memes circulated juxtaposing Thunberg with images of dark-skinned children experiencing hardship in seemingly Third World spaces. The clear message being sent is that Thunberg's passionate activism is rendered invalid because of her position of privilege. The tactic of denigrating prominent activists as hypocrites if they engage in social justice work from privileged positions has become a common tactic in backlash discourse on social media.
While Thunberg's prominence was rising, environmental activists began to point out that girls of color had been overlooked in mainstream global media and politics for their activism (Burton, 2019). The criticism was directed at audiences, politicians, and media for ignoring those indigenous, black, and brown girls, not at Thunberg for having done anything wrong in her advocacy work. In fact, on her world tour, Thunberg made concerted efforts to use her visibility to illuminate the issues, struggles, and advocacy of girls and communities of color. She met with - and was photographed with - girls of color engaged in environmental activism in indigenous communities, for example (Binnie, 2019). The coalition-building that Thunberg undertook (likely aided by her team and parents) by acknowledging and wielding her privilege to advance intersectional global environmental activism is exemplary of the progressive activism that this young generation of girls seems to be embracing (Talbot, 2018). Thunberg's efforts, however, are completely ignored by opponents who simplify her identity to white, privileged, and therefore disqualified from activism.
Emerging Celebrification Patterns
Of the three girl activists featured in this analysis, González and Thunberg arguably faced the most intense backlash as they also rose to the highest fame, which suggests that backlash propels celebrification. The cycle of outrage and defense drives multiple news cycles beyond the activist work that González and Thunberg engage in, thus contributing to their visibility. Furthermore, the backlash narrative is similar to celebrity and entertainment scandal tropes that fuel coverage in popular media such as People, Elle, and other celebrity-centric media outlets which promote their star images. Dias, in contrast, has not been the subject of backlash, nor has her fame been as high-profile even though she appears in similar publications.
The moment when a girl activist emerges into media visibility profoundly shapes the media framing of her. González's angry, tear-filled speech provided images that were poignant and emotionally meaningful for supporters, but easily memeified by opponents who laughed at her tears. In contrast, Dias found initial viral fame as a smiling young girl raising money to buy books for a school library - a project and an image that are difficult to oppose and even harder to memeify. Finally, Thunberg was introduced to global media through images of protesting alone and then speaking forcefully at a global event. The image of a lone girl - either completely alone in her protest or alone as a child among adults at the World Economic Forum - provided fodder for criticism as well as praise. The contrast between girls who exist in fame and activism with an overall positive narrative and those for whom negativity is a defining characteristic is clear and instructive because girl audiences will likely be exposed to multiple narratives as they form judgements about what - if any - social actions they are comfortable undertaking in their own lives.
Motivation and Determination
Media profiles and articles tended to emphasize the unique catalysts for action that drive girl activists. Introducing girl activists to mass audiences includes establishing a starting point and timeline for their social action and defining their identities. In the cases of González, Dias, and Thunberg, this introduction and subsequent coverage focused on the girls’ personal drive, stamina, and will. They were characterized as uniquely capable, adult-like, and special for having moments of epiphany and then turning personal enlightenment into sustained social action (Projansky, 2014). As Ryalls and Mazzarella note, Thunberg's fierceness may be framed as girly, but it is not undermined (2021).
One framing device that valorizes girls as unique and destined for greatness is to obscure the role of parents and other adults in supporting their activism. None of the three girls profiled here were able to manage their activism without their parents’ permission at the very least, but in reading between the lines of profiles it is clear that parents, teachers, and other adult mentors commonly provided guidance, transportation, and financial support. Though research demonstrates that adults may not be the inspiration for youth activism (Taft, 2017), they nevertheless provide a structure of support that must be nudged into the background of media coverage if girls are to be framed as independent and exceptional. Thunberg's parents for example, are practically non-existent in media coverage of her activism, yet they have reportedly supported her skipping school on Fridays to engage in protests and would have logically had to approve and to some extent fund her travels (John, 2019). Teachers would have, logically, had to at least not be overly punitive and adult leaders must sanction, invite, promote, and report on these girls participating in events. More strikingly, Dias’ mother is Janice Johnson Dias, a renowned sociologist and community activist who founded GrassROOTS Community Foundation and has earned high-profile funding and recognition from government agencies and NGOs, as well as been invited to participate in White House initiatives. Yet, any influence or assistance she may have had in her daughter's social work is rarely if ever mentioned in news coverage of Marley Dias that praises her as a singular girl activist.
Finally, the unprecedented reality of young girls engaging in high-profile feuds with adult male powerplayers is perhaps the most extraordinary demonstration of unique strength these girls could ever display (Kirby, 2018). Not every girl - or every person, period - could stand up to attacks leveled by the combined might of the global north and continue forward in activism, yet that is precisely what Thunberg is shown to do. While her fortitude is resoundingly celebrated by her supporters, she is also lifted up as, once again, singular. González also rose above the criticism with singular poise - staying on message and focused in ways that, again, veteran adult activists would be hard pressed to do (González, 2018). The girls therefore demonstrate singularity that draws fans and supporters, yet also reveals a sobering reality: young girls who challenge systems of power and oppression become targets of hate campaigns and face the ire of global leaders and are placed in a position to have to behave in extraordinary ways to accomplish their goals.
Good Girl/Bad Girl Dichotomy
Without making direct comparisons between the girls, media texts can nevertheless present a stark juxtaposition between “easy/good” activism and “difficult/controversial”activism. The delineation between the two falls, unsurprisingly perhaps, in line with notions of hegemonic femininity. There are two aspects of the good girl/bad girl that emphasize appearance - both positive and negative. On the one hand, Dias presents a traditionally feminine, cheerful, pretty public image and engages in actions that promote diversity and inclusivity, but do not radically threaten the status quo. On the other hand, González represents a more counter-hegemonic physical appearance and manner of dress that is intentionally queer and challenges traditional femininity even as the activism she engages in challenges powerful institutions. Thunberg, with her trademark long blond braids and casual, nondescript clothing appears younger than her 16 years of age and offers an interesting counterexample to Dias and González. Though Thunberg radically challenges powerful institutions with her words and actions, she also projects the appearance of a youthful, even innocent presence and defies easy categorization. As Ryalls and Mazzarella (2021) note, “Thunberg's whiteness marks her as idealized and exceptional, as the icon of the global climate change movement” even at the expense of marginalized Indigenous girls whose climate activism has gone underreported. The contradictions in Thunberg both demonstrate how complex and nuanced girl identities can be while also making her even more of a polysemous media text, open to a multitude of interpretations.
Trauma and Self-Care
Media texts about and by celebrity girl activists highlight the potential emotional and physical harms from being a protester, including exhaustion, fear, burn-out, frustration, anger, assault, doxxing, and more (Givetash, 2019). The recommendation that pervades these discussions is that girl activists need to focus on self-care as an antidote to activist burnout (Dumais, 2020). Though a transparent and inclusive conversation about the struggles that some activists face in challenging systemic oppressions is important to sustaining participation in social movements, the specific framing of the self-care narrative in relation to girl activists can be problematic for three reasons.
First, some texts feature girl activists such as González in a sort of sensationalized “trauma porn” that depicts their suffering as an inevitable aspect of their activism. Second, the emphasis on a pre-emptive need for self-care may serve as a deterrent for girls who fear burning out before they even begin. Third, the emphasis on self-care must be understood in the context of broader self-care narratives in mainstream media, which tend to take place in feminine media spheres and privilege individual, consumer-oriented care rituals such as facials and culturally-appropriated for-profit versions of spiritual practices such as meditation and yoga.
One interpretation of self-care and harm themes in media content is that it reinforces the representation of celebrity girl activists as uniquely vulnerable as well as uniquely strong with a blend of adult-like and child-like qualities, regardless of age. A different perspective might suggest that the theme of support prevails and demonstrates the necessity of community to combat activist burn-out, but I would argue that such emphasis on community takes place in more alternative media spaces rather than mainstream media texts that would reach the majority of girl consumers.
As celebrity activists, Dias, González, and Thumberg have developed celebrity personae that demonstrate many of the same characteristics as other famous girls: strength and resolve are tempered by vulnerability – online, emotionally, and physically. Yet, more broad and consequential narratives also emerge. First, the need for girl activists to engage in self-care and maintain personal boundaries to cope with harm is a dominant aspect of media discourse about girl activists. The message to ordinary girls is clear: fighting for social justice and taking on power hierarchies will hurt. At the same time, rewards and accolades are possible for undertaking happy, non-confrontational endeavors while conforming to feminine gender norms. Regardless of the type of actions taken or the presentation of self-identity, however, the celebrification of activist girls perpetuates their singularity. The message that in order to make change, girls must be uniquely qualified, special individuals may be a significant deterrent to inspiring new girl activists. The assumption that “inspiring” charismatic figures will necessarily lead their fans to emulate their actions is flawed - they may inspire awe and admiration, but not necessarily emulation.
Reflection
As time marches on, the three celebrity girl activists discussed in this study have taken significantly different public paths. First, Marley Dias has become – for lack of a better word – a brand. In 2020, she partnered with Netflix to host and serve as executive producer for a series of twelve five-minute episodes of Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices (Hardison, 2020). Of the three girls analyzed in this study, Dias is the only one with a dedicated personal website (www.marleydias.com), whereas González and Thunberg are affiliated with websites for organizations (www.marchforourlives.com and www.fridaysforfuture.org, respectively). Charismatic and cheerful, Dias is a face and voice of youthful Black joy, which is a powerful threat to systems of structural racism that marginalize and oppress Black girls (Morris, 2016). Dias’ mother, Janice Johnson Dias, published a book about “how to raise joyful, change-making girls,” prompting a writer for The Washington Post to gush that readers could gain access to the “recipe” with the “secret sauce” that her parents used to raise Marley to be strong and successful (Bookey, 2021). The niche fame that Marley Dias enjoys is firmly focused on books, joy, and grassroots change-making. The lack of controversy and backlash against her activism and public image send a clear message about how girls can safely engage in social action. Gonzalez also went on to explain the reasoning behind the unique moniker. “My name is Emma Gonzalez,” they said, “but I’ve decided to go by ‘X’ now because I really don't want people who don't know me assuming that they do know me because of the national narrative, or international narrative, that exists about me, because I was, and still am, a child — and I don't want people thinking that they’re my friends just because they know my name. […] “And also, that kind of tied up into my gender. I realized that I’m not a girl, and that I don't like when people refer to me with ‘she/her’ pronouns, or when they think of me as a girl. “And Emma, as a name, just became such an identity that I became really disassociated with. Perkins, 2021.
The ongoing fluctuations in visibility that these and other celebrity girl activists experience is important to acknowledge because audiences don't consume media in distinct silos. Therefore the fine distinctions in media texts about celebrity, activism, and backlash can be difficult to parse, even as patterns emerge in the “precise moments” that contribute to the celebrification of girl activists. When considering the discourse surrounding these celebrity girl activists, we should continue to ask: what are the sanctioned characteristics that they possess? What behaviors and viewpoints are they attacked for sharing? Overall, a media narrative emerges that girls engaging in political action must be happy, calm, and non-confrontational; they should be poised, determined, and articulate, but child-like and innocent; emotional, but not angry; focused on material goods rather than structural change; vulnerable, but strong and resolved. Taken together, these characteristics align with dominant gender norms and pose clear limitations on girl activists. For audiences consuming media content about celebrity girl activists, there is also a clear message that fame is conditional and that prestige and power does not protect celebrity girl activists against threats if they are deemed undeserving of fame. If this is what girls might see in famous girl activists, what impact could that have on their willingness to engage in social activism in the public sphere and potentially face disturbing backlash?
The challenge in finding and studying girls who choose not to engage in activism and are willing to discuss why poses significant methodological hurdles. Similar to the challenges for media scholars of studying non-fans and casual observers, there is a clear methodological challenge to studying girls who don't engage in activism (Gray, 2003). While activists may be easy enough to locate, non-activists are both everywhere and nowhere. However, with the potential to understand how backlash against celebrity girl activists could be teaching young girls that there are safe, non-controversial paths to social change that are markedly different from the dangers of inspiring controversy, interviewing and understanding girls who do not choose to engage in radical politics is a vital next step in scholarship.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
