The Problem with ‘Call-out’ Culture

The Youth Activist Club
Oct 4, 2020
3 min read

By Matilda Cox

Social media can be an extremely powerful tool when it comes to social change. It allows us to spread news and messages quickly, and inspire others to join in support of a cause. Of course, social media also means that we are judged far more easily; words and photos published online are open to a great deal of scrutiny.

In a way, this is very useful. We have to be much more careful about what we say and do, knowing that it is potentially going to be received by a critical audience. It helps us to strive to be better and more well-informed, when done correctly.

Unfortunately, nowadays, this desire to hold people accountable for their words and actions has transformed more into a trend of call-outs and ‘cancelling’. A slip of the tongue or a few words out of context and someone is labelled as anti-feminist. One strike and you’re out.

It is at this point that it becomes less about teaching and informing, and more about punishing others. Not everybody has the same level of “awareness” or has been educated in the same way and it’s important not to demonize others for this, which is what public calling-out has become about. Education, particularly in a social sphere, is a privilege. We should not expect everybody else to have been exposed to the same knowledge or experiences.

As Maisha Johnson wrote for ‘The Body is not an Apology’, “Addressing harmful behavior is important, but so is understanding that everyone is on a different step of their journey, so we all make mistakes…You don’t have to shame other activists – or yourself – for being imperfect. We can give ourselves and each other room to make mistakes.”

This call-out culture and ‘cancelling’ of celebrities and public figures promotes the false idea that feminism or so-called “wokeness” can be perfected, instead of something which requires constant work. None of us are perfect activists; there is always room for learning and ways we can improve. To create positive social change, it is important that we don’t ‘cancel’ or completely dismiss an individual for one slip-up. Instead, it is far more constructive to educate someone on their wrongdoing so they can be more well-informed and not make the same mistake in the future. This toxic call-out culture doesn’t help anyone. It’s often considered as ‘performative’ and more about gaining kudos online as the ‘best activist’ instead of bringing about positive social change. This finger-pointing is much more divisive than constructive-- for communities which should be banding together to achieve social justice rather than punishing each other. Isolating and ostracizing someone for one slip-up is not conducive to positive change, and reflects aspects of the same oppressive systems we are trying to fight against.

It is still vitally important to keep holding each other accountable. It encourages us to do better and be better as activists, but there are much more effective ways of doing this than online public humiliation. Perhaps the way forward is with call-ins-- privately addressing the person directly. It is then up to that person to grow and change their behavior. This creates a much more positive environment, where people feel free to ask questions and develop their activism with confidence.