On December 13, 2021, Matrix convened a diverse group of speakers to discuss today’s remarkable political moment, marked both by a new kind of women’s activism (centered on #MeToo and related movements) and by the rise of a misogynistic far-right. Panelists explored the role that digital mediations, from social media to video games, play in this cultural complex.
This event was presented as part of the Matrix On Point series, a series promoting focused, cross-disciplinary conversations on today’s most pressing issues. Offering opportunities for scholarly exchange and interaction, each Matrix On Point features the perspectives of leading scholars and specialists from different disciplines, followed by an open conversation. These thought-provoking events are free and open to the public.
Panelists included Sarah Sobieraj, an award-winning teacher and researcher with expertise in US political culture, extreme incivility, digital abuse and harassment, and the mediated information environment; C.J. Pascoe, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and co-editor of Socius Journal; Julia Ebner, a radicalisation researcher and bestselling writer based in London; and Kishonna L. Gray, Associate Professor in the Writing, Rhetoric, Digital Studies program at the University of Kentucky. The panel was moderated by Raka Ray, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at UC Berkeley.
