A Facebook message that spread across the internet has created an online campaign against domestic abuse and violence. The private message that was sent to women across the world read:
Tomorrow [note: today, Sunday, September 30th] female blackout from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. It’s a movement to show what the world might be like without women. Your profile photo should just be a black square so that men wonder where the women are. Pass it only to women … It’s for a project against domestic abuse. It is no joke. Share it.
The campaign was previously run in January 2018. A Jezebel feature on the campaign argues that the presence of the campaign in late-Septemeber may be in reference to Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his alleged actions involving women while he was drunk. Kavanaugh during a hearing on September 27 repeatedly mentioned his love of beer but refused to acknowledge any link between drinking and his memory of the incidents that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified about. According to the <a href="https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-1/43-51.htmNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol plays a role in half of all sexual assaults that occur against women in the United States. President Donald Trump told reporters on September 25 that Deborah Ramirez, who accused Judge Kavanaugh of flashing her during a drinking game while they were in college, was “totally inebriated and all messed up.”
Legal analyst Imani Gandy has decried the campaign on Twitter saying, “Black women are routinely silenced. Why would I voluntarily silence myself?” Gandy had earlier tweeted, “Blackout? lol nope.” Gandy added the campaign coincided with the <a href="https://mashable.com/article/march-for-black-women/March for Black Women in New York City.
Why should women #black out their #Facebook profile pictures and go silent tomorrow? Haven’t women been silent and ignored enough? Now we are erasing ourselves with our own hands? sorry I’m not going to do that. I want my face to be seen and my voice to be heard! #Betterway2fight
<a href="https://www.dailydot.com/irl/social-media-blackout/The Daily Dot reports that the woman behind the campaign also tried to organize a similar campaign in July 2018. The website named her as Christy Love. In March 2017, there was another <a href="https://www.womensmarch.com/womensday/"Day Without Women" campaign which had the support of Facebook and saw the social media giant roll out a frame for women to use.
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