While YouTube democratizes content creation by making it more accessible, it still operates within a neoliberal framework where algorithms prioritize content that generates the most revenue, often reinforcing capitalist ideals (Glatt and Banet-Weiser, 2021: p42). For creators, income is precarious, relying on unpredictable ad revenue and sponsorships (Glatt and Banet-Weiser, 2021: p46). As a result, many feminist creators adopt “popular feminism,” staying within safe, non-controversial boundaries to maintain algorithmic favour, even promoting brands that may conflict with their stated values (Glatt and Banet-Weiser, 2021: p41, 2021: p45).

This tendency has become increasingly clear over the last year, with many content creators refusing to speak out about the genocide in Palestine. One example of this is Alex Cooper, an influencer who is known for her audiovisual podcast Call Her Daddy, where she gives romantic advice to women and does celebrity interviews (2024a). She is a ‘girlboss’, and supposedly empowers other women to do the same (Panchal, 2024). She even made a documentary on abortion rights in America (Call Her Daddy, 2024b). However, she has not spoken out against the genocide in Palestine, despite it affecting many women. She also recently had politician Kamala Harris on her show (Call Her Daddy, 2024c), who has been publicly supportive of Israel (Halpert, 2024).

Another instance of this is YouTuber Rachel Oates, who often makes videos about problematic male creators (Oates, 2024a) and claims she wants to ‘educate, entertain and empower all [her] viewers’ (Oates, 2024b). Despite this, she posted a story refusing to take a stance on the genocide of Palestinians and hasn’t spoken up since (Annaoye, 2024).

Whether these content creators really don’t care or are just choosing to stay silent in order to avoid being controversial and lose money, the effect is the same: they are not using their platforms to speak out against the many women (and men and children) being killed in Palestine. This is especially jarring, as these creators have built their platform talking about feminist issues.

Written by Maisie Kelly 33752521

Bibliography

Call Her Daddy (2024a) [Podcast]. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bnjJ7Va1nM07Um4Od55dW?si=61e76eb909be4c14 (Accessed: 26 November 2024).

Call Her Daddy (2024b) [Podcast]. ‘An Abortion Story’, 11 October. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6dTpkNA9VX33I8xS3cYLtw?si=bbf9f74d875f48d1 (Accessed: 26 November 2024).

Call Her Daddy (2024c) [Podcast]. ‘Vice President Kamala Harris’, 6 October. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4B9WOUCWY8qY0f9MMjOSXa?si=54de6cbfcb2b48bd (Accessed: 26 November 2024).

Glatt, Z. and Banet-Weiser, S. (2021), ‘Productive Ambivalence, Economies of Visibility, and the Political Potential of Feminist YouTubers’, in D. Craig and S. Cunningham (eds.) Creator Culture: An Introduction to Global Social Media Entertainment. NYU Press: United States, pp.39-56.

Halpert, M. (2024) ‘Harris rejects claims she would support Israel arms embargo’, BBC News, 8 August. Available at:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg798l439ydo (Accessed: 26 November 2024).

Oates, R. (2024a) We Need To Talk About The Horrifying ImAllexx Situation, 17 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX0WJA7qCpg (Accessed: 26 November 2024).

Oates, R. (2024b) About. Available at: https://racheloates.uk/about (Accessed: 26 November 2024).

Panchal, A (2024) ‘Alex Cooper Lands Cover of Forbes Encourages Women to Go their Own Path’, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, 22 November. Available at: https://swimsuit.si.com/swimnews/alex-cooper-lands-cover-forbes-encourages-women-break-boundaries-follow-own-path (Accessed: 26 November 2024).

@annaoye (2024) ‘Feminist YouTuber Rachel Oates posts most tone-deaf Instastory on the genocide in Gaza yet.’ [Reddit]. 3 February. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/comments/1awcytq/feminist_youtuber_rachel_oates_posts_most/ (Accessed: 26 November 2024).