A place to share and hide: Czech and Slovak Instagram advocacy against violence and harassment in times of political opposition

Both the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic have in the past decade seen considerable political setbacks in the agenda of tackling gender-based violence. The neo-conservative and extreme-right opposition managed to block the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in both countries; numerous attempts at reforming the criminal code to include consent in the definition of sexual assault have also been halted; and the advocacy and service-provision actors of the civil society sector have also been struggling with shrinking resources. Amidst these developments, various quasi-feminist initiatives have popped up in the online environment aimed at raising awareness on the topics of sexual violence, harassment, or intimate-partner violence. The present study draws from interviews conducted in 2022 and 2023 with these non-professional advocacy workers, individuals based in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as they form online connective actions (Bennett & Segerberg 2012) amidst the political push-back. Their accounts show that individual stories of survivors and personal experiences have become a key tool of their advocacy, but one that opens up numerous ethical questions. The accounts also show how these actors value and consequently shape ontologically safe spaces as a key goal of these connective actions within the privately owned and temporary networks of Instagram. What we hope to discuss is how, in these insecure times, such initiatives further shape anti-violence and harassment advocacy, oftentimes in contrast to the more conventional and formalised advocacy groups and initiatives. Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, communication & society, 15(5), 739-768.