The possibility of performative activism

Hey friend,

Depending on what corners of the internet you spend time in, chances are you’ve heard at least one person accuse some other person or organization of performative activism.

What does that mean, ‘performative activism’? Generally, it means someone posting or speaking about a social justice issue but in a way that seems non-substantive or not fully genuine. Usually, people alleging performative activism say that the performing party “just wants to look good."

That is where I see opportunity.

Obviously, there’s a lot of people in the world who encounter social justice issues and causes and respond by denigrating those causes, mocking those who care about them, or just plain ignoring the issue.

But the performative activist doesn’t do that—clearly, they’ve decided that what “looks good” is being in support of a particular social justice issue. Not everyone feels that way.

Performative activism contains the belief that whatever cause you’re expressing care about is worthy of care and attention. The opportunity is in leveraging that belief into deeper engagement with the issue, and sustained real-world actions in addressing it.

What do you think about performative activism? Are you ever worried that you or your organization are engaging performatively with a social justice issue, rather than deeply or genuinely? What has helped you move from a performative place to a genuine one? Reply right to this email—I’d love to chat with you about it.

Fondly, Cate