Leading influencer says the term ‘influencer’ is ‘deeply misogynistic’
One of the country’s leading influencers has claimed the term is an offensive one, weaponised by the media in a “deeply misogynistic” way.
Hannah Ferguson, co-founder and CEO of Cheek Media, made the claims on Wednesday, during her first National Press Club address in Melbourne.
Ferguson said that online content creators who used social media platforms to deliver their work were being dismissed as ‘influencers’ by the mainstream media to diminish their standing. She argued this tactic was misogynistic at its roots.
Hannah Ferguson
“Influencer is just another part of the manufactured vocab of the culture wars,” Ferguson said.
“While that word simply means to have influence over a group, we know that the Murdoch media has reserved this group for young women.”
Ferguson said Cheek Media’s content was viewed close to 20 million times during the lead up to the federal election, by a user base of more than 4 million Australians.
Likewise, Abbie Chatfield’s podcast interview with Anthony Albanese was viewed and listened to by hundreds of thousands of Australians. Still, both Ferguson and Chatfield are dubbed ‘influencers’ whenever a shorthand is needed.
“The agenda is clear,” Ferguson continued, “to undermine our intelligence and to conflate us with green juice and a discount code. The impact is deeply misogynistic.”
Ferguson pointed out “there is nothing wrong with being an influencer”, taking aim at the label itself, which she said “is intended to cause significant reputational damage.”
Ferguson was introduced at the Press Club — by Canberra journalist Emma Macdonald — as a CEO, “podcaster, author and social media influencer.”
“I am not a journalist, and I have never claimed to be. I never will,” Ferguson said in her speech.
“Research tells us that more than half of Australians get their news on social media, but I don’t ever want to be seen as a source of breaking headlines.
“My intention is to provide opinions, distribute ideas and ask people to look at their own moral compass in relation to mine.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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What embarrassing, confected outrage and utter, self-indulgent nonsense. “I’m not a journalist…”. No, she’s not. And I agree that she’s not an influencer.
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Utter tosh. The term has been aspirational across both genders since like forever, and is still so today. If certain quarters are weaponising it, own it back like Beyonce tried with c*nty instead of just whingeing about it.
Best headline in a long time.
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I’m a little surprised by this opinion. If women feel the term influencer is misogynistic, then why do they call themselves influencers ?
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Your moral compass is not here for our own to be compared .. what unfiltered arrogance.
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Was there any word on what they’d prefer to be called?
Yes influencers, imho, are like investigative reporters bravely standing up and uncovering institutional corruption ala Wall Street Journal reporters. No.
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love that the 2nd word of the headline and 6th word of the body copy describes her as exactly the thing she is railing against
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Oh Please!
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Maybe instead of blaming the media she should blame her colleagues who accept thousands of dollars to sell fake weight loss drugs to teenage girls with body dysmorphia.
Push for a code of ethics in your industry and then try and legitimise it.
These people continually trying to get the world to take them seriously is sickening.
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She also notably likened herself and others like her to talk radio hosts.
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then is this headline misogynistic?
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A systemic problem with influencers calling out the “mainstream media” is that if you are not a journalist (undertaking original research, fact-checking politicians based on years of experience, sourcing your reporting, pouring through policy documents and primary sources, asking questions directly of your subjects) then where do you get your information on which to base your opinions and content creation? What are you sharing with your followers, if not information based on news you read or heard somewhere else? You’re effectively stealing the IP and hard work of others without attribution for your own financial, commercial, celebrity gain. It’s such cheap and baseless punditry.
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