Do Activists Have an Image Problem?
14th January 2014
Hint: Yes.
Perhaps it’s because most of them look, talk, and act like jerks. That’s just a guess, mind you.
When you picture a feminist or an environmental campaigner, what kind of a person do you think of? If you’re like the US and Canadian participants in this new paper, then you’ll have in mind an eccentric, militant, unhygienic person. Nadia Bashir and her colleagues say this commonly held stereotype of an activist is partly responsible for the sluggishness of social change. Large sections of the public agree with activists’ messages, but are put off by not wanting to affiliate themselves with the kind of person they think makes an activist.
Gee, I wonder why that is….