Gender Justice, Testimonies, and Feminist Consciousness: A Comparative Study from Second-Wave Consciousness-Raising Groups to Fourth-Wave Digital Platforms

This article analyzes the continuities, transformations, and challenges surrounding feminist practices of consciousness-raising (CR), from the second-wave self-awareness groups to the digital testimonies of the fourth wave. Using the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) method, the study identifies similarities and differences between these forms of testimony-based politicization, assessing their impact on building a collective feminist consciousness and their capacity to spur political action. The research focuses on how platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and TikTok have become key arenas for denouncing injustices, raising awareness, and articulating struggles for gender justice. Campaigns such as #MeToo, #Cuéntalo (TellYourStory), and #NiUnaMenos (NotOneLess) have generated significant political and social impacts through viral, emotional, and mass testimonies. However, this visibility also entails risks of symbolic violence, digital misogyny, and movement fragmentation. The article underscores the continued relevance of the feminist slogan “the personal is political” and explores the dual role of social media as spaces for empowerment and as sites of reactionary dispute. Finally, it emphasizes the urgency of sustaining strategies of care, sisterhood, and feminist accompaniment in digital environments to ensure that these practices retain their transformative potential in the age of hyperconnectivity.