{"id":1172,"date":"2025-04-06T13:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T13:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2025-04-06T13:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T13:06:12","slug":"cancel-culture-as-a-feminist-political-criticism-tool-in-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/06\/cancel-culture-as-a-feminist-political-criticism-tool-in-indonesia\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancel Culture as a Feminist Political Criticism Tool in Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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By Ramita Paraswati<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent wave of cancel culture in Indonesia, particularly in the form of hashtags<\/a> to cancel celebrities deemed politically sympathetic, is more than a web trend. It is an indication of rising political consciousness, one that challenges mainstream discourses and questions whose voice counts and for whom. Taking Eve Ng’s (2022)<\/a> definition, cancel culture is both an act of targeted cancellation and a broad public discourse of outrage. But it is also a digital mode of resistance whose meanings, if interpreted through feminist lenses, reveal the gendered dynamics of voice, influence, and state loyalty in the public sphere in Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gendered Dimensions of Cancellation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancel culture has existed in different forms across contexts. Celebrities in South Korea are “cancelled” for off, duty misbehaviour, drunk driving (e.g., Kim Sae ron) to sex scandals with underage women. These are framed as moral deficits. Celebrities in Indonesia are cancelled for politics, primarily for being on the side of the ruling elite, such as recent controversies over the Military Law (UU TNI). They were criticized like Raffi Ahmad, whereas some of them like Prilly Latuconsina, Reza Arap, and Nessi Judge have avoided being politically involved at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This divergence suggests the way cancellation in Indonesia operates not because of moral or legal violations, but because of proximity to power, state power. From a feminist perspective, this raises significant questions: Whose voice is amplified? Whose silence is replaced? And whose alignment with power is unacceptable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychologically, cancel culture impacts public figures in complex manners. Vincent Adeyemi (2025)<\/a> recognizes that the targeted individuals end up facing anxiety, social exclusion, and self,censorship. For women in particular, these consequences are compounded by patriarchal judgment. Women public figures are often judged not only for their political stance but also for representing femininity, nationalism, and morality. In such a context, cancel culture impacts women influencers more disproportionately who participate in both political affinity and gendered expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materially, celebrities, and especially women celebrities, suffer decreasing brand interactions and lost endorsements. While Indonesia is not as financially strapped as South Korea, with regard to cancelling contracts, economic reprisal remains a gendered silencing device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancel Culture as Feminist Political Critique<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indonesian cancel culture has become a bottom-up political critique, a form of resisting state co-optation of celebrity influence. Initially noted during the 2024 presidential election as part of online campaign strategies, the practice now targets celebrities who are seen as state allies. The phenomenon is indicative not just of the campaigning element but also of frustration at the shrinking space for critical debate and increasing state capture of popular media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under feminist analysis, cancel culture is then a form of opposition, best utilized in the spaces where classical political participation is limited. Cancel culture disrupts the gendered hierarchy of speaking for the people, offering a type of criticism in which citizens, particularly young women and online feminist communities, can challenge hegemonic political identifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structural Barriers to Feminist Digital Activism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, cancel culture’s success as political opposition is circumscribed by the sociopolitical context of Indonesia. The ideological diversity of the country and political illiteracy weakened the unity of the movement. Furthermore, the lack of feminist political education leaves little space for the public to contest the gendered dynamic of celebrity, state relations or separate real activism from paid endorsements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodwin et al. (2023)<\/a> highlight the influencer’s ability to shape the discourse. Without transparency in state influencer relations and without feminist analysis, however, cancel culture is in danger of being an echo chamber instead of a force for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toward a Feminist Future of Accountability<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For cancel culture to be an effective feminist political instrument, Indonesia must appreciate inclusive political education and digital literacy. These efforts must focus on the voices of marginalized groups, particularly women and youth, whose opposition is repeatedly erased or downplayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Indonesian celebrities will not face career-wrecking sanctions like their South Korean counterparts, the growing willingness of the public, especially young women who are internet-literate, to challenge relations of power is a shift in public opinion. Whether this shift leads to institutional change or more gender justice is a matter of how well feminist challenges are woven into public opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Indonesia’s cancel culture is not so much about blocking celebrities. It is about envisioning differently whose voice is heard, whose silence is interpreted as complicity, and whose power can be called to account\u2014beyond a patriarchal democracy that worships celebrities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ramita Paraswati The recent wave of cancel culture in Indonesia, particularly in the form of hashtags to cancel celebrities deemed politically sympathetic, is more than a web trend. It is an indication of rising political consciousness, one that challenges mainstream discourses and questions whose voice counts and for whom. Taking Eve Ng’s (2022) definition, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/author\/indonesiawpscentre_\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ramita Paraswati The recent wave of cancel culture in Indonesia, particularly in the form of hashtags to cancel celebrities deemed politically sympathetic, is more than a web trend. It is an indication of rising political consciousness, one that challenges mainstream discourses and questions whose voice counts and for whom. Taking Eve Ng’s (2022) definition,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1173,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions\/1173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpscentre-id.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}