Digital Memory and Populism| Deploying Private Memory in the Virtual Sphere: Feminist Activism Against Gender-Based Violence in Mexico

Abstract

Since 2007, there has been a recrudescence in gender-based violence and feminicides in Mexico, with an average of more than 10 feminicides a day. Out of nearly 47 million Mexican women above the age of 15, almost 31 million have been victims of some form of gender-based violence, mostly perpetrated by current or former partners. The present article investigates feminist online activism against gender-based violence and feminicides in Mexico as a discursive and mobilization strategy opposing the government's populistic rhetoric in the context of a political and cultural invisibility of violence against women in the public discourse. By analyzing the deployment of private memory to remember and honor the victims of feminicides and desaparecidas, the article reflects on the relationship between institutional patriarchy, populism, memory, and gender-based violence in Mexico.