Monsters Look Different in the Light: Generation Z and Fourth Wave Feminism: An Ethnodrama

This poststructural feminist study troubled historical feminist erasure and non-linear history in language and human perceptions to frame the analysis of fourth wave feminism through the lens of Generation Z self-identified feminists. Generation Z, our most diverse generation yet, are digital natives maturing during an era of ubiquitous technology and subsequently during the fourth wave—which is delineated by digital activism (Rivers, 2017; Seemiller & Grace, 2019). A multimodal representation of Generation Z, HBO’s Euphoria, and interviews with five self-identified feminists from Generation Z, as well as an inventory of their media preferences, informed the analysis and ethnodramatic representation of this study. The participants’ perceptions of intergenerational tension and their ideal feminist political agenda were described as a being—which indicated an embodied difference in the planets of belief of this studies’ Generation Z participants (Carroll, 2017). Participants were notably critical of social media apps with concerns over data privacy. In order to hinder online organizations from fully capturing their data profiles, participants enacted agency through intentional systemic disruption of app algorithms. Lastly, the importance of being mindful of, rather than influenced by, media was a planet of belief held by the Generation Z participants of this study.