UltraViolet

Taylor Rae

PAF 112 Course

Dr. Jonathan Koppell

December 3, 2020
Introduction:

Over the past several years, women have broken new ground on the forefront of

innovation, education, policy, and so much more. The achievements of stabilizing and closing

the gap of inequality have been baffling. In the past decade alone, modern contraceptive choices

have been expanded and normalized, gender roles have become internationally less stringent, and

there is an exponentially increasing number of women entering STEM fields of work. Still, there

is much work to be done. UltraViolet, a nonprofit organization that works through public

awareness campaigns and petitions in order to influence various organizations to fall in line with

a progressive perspective and help to eliminate sexism in not only high-level politics but also

everyday life (About Us,2019).

Identity:

Founded in 2012, by cofounders Shaunna Thomas and Nita Chaudhary, UltraViolet

brings together men and women alike (though the organization is, admittedly, predominantly

women) to participate and advocate for feminism and social change (About Us, 2019).

According to the UltraViolet website, the organization currently stands at about one million

activists, working to drive strategic change throughout the world (UltraViolet). ​UltraViolet is a

community of one million people that drives feminist cultural and political change.

Social Capital:

Interestingly enough, of these one million is our soon to be Vice President of the United

States, Kamala Harris. With such a strong political force present in the organization, the group

has new ground, or at least more stable ground to fight the more prominent, strong headed
politically based issues of discrimination. For example, UltraViolet has reached out to help bring

a stop to certain LGBTQ+ discriminations brought on by the current administration (Influence

Watch). It’s also important to note that being labeled as a left-progressive organization,

UltraViolet has inevitably faced a certain level of political “backlash”—something

differentiating between right and left politics will without a doubt produce.

Civic, political, and or social engagement:

In February of 2012, UltraViolet held its first civic rally in response to Susan G. Komen’s

decision to discontinue funding of Planned Parenthood. This decision came in accordance with

with acknowledgement that Planned Parenthood in itself is an establishment that condones and

supports the unconditional reproductive rights of women, which includes performing abortions to

terminate unwanted pregnancies in women. This campaign subsequently led to the reversal of

Komen’s decision to discontinue funding to Planned Parenthood (Influence Watch). A similar

social media rally in July of 2016 led to the rejection of the “HB2” state bill which, “compels

schools, and other public acilities with single-gender bathrooms to only allow people of the

corresponding sex (as listed on their birth certificate) to use them (Influence Watch).

With the aforementioned civic and political rallies, UltraViolet has proven itself to have

quite a strong social preference. Even still the organization has recently on their facebook page,

they shared a podcast of Alive Wong and Emily Ackerman (Facebook, 2020) . In this 40 minute

long interview the two discuss what it’s like to be a woman in the field of engineering, a

predominantly male field (Wong, 2020). Emily Ackerman also provided the audience with a

unique perspective as she is also physically disabled. She cannot walk and is in a wheelchair.
This goes to show that even though UltraViolet poses itself as a feminist organization, it works

to break down several various barriers of discrimination and bias.

Mobilization​:

Mobilizing members into UltraViolet is an unbelievably easy process. With just a name,

email, zip code and phone number, anyone can become a member to support political change

through strategic advocacy (Ultra Violet). They draw in their members by spreading the message

that politicians and leaders sound be held accountable by all women and should receive

consequences for sexism. These ideas fall in line with those of the general American Democracy

by preaching equality. The foundation of American society is based on the idea that all people,

regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. are equal and deserve to be treated as such

(About Us, 2019). UltraViolet works to make these ideals a reality for not only the American

people, but individuals around the world in all levels of society.

UltraViolet isn’t unique in its ideals of American Democracy. But what’s interesting

about UltraViolet is its competency and stretch across a wide variety of platforms. As mentioned

earlier, UltraViolet engages extensively on social media platforms to enact social change,

something feminist organizatoins of the past have not had the ability to do (Basset, 2020).

Summary

Still, of course, there is quite a lot of work to be done when it comes to equality. Women

still face challenges every day in even the most progressive and developed countries. As this

essay has shown, UltraViolet and its members are working tirelessly to enact the changes needed
to make quality more possible. Step by step, this organization is making strides towards a

brighter future.
Works cited

“About Us.” ​We Are UltraViolet, ​14 Feb. 2109, weareultraviolet.org/about-us/.

Basset, Laura. “UltraViolet, Women’s Rights Group, Upgrades Movement Via Social Media.”

Huffington Post​. December 4, 2020. Accessed March 26, 2020.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ultraviolet-womens-rights_n_1335743​ ​^

“UltraViolet.” ​Facebook​, 3 Dec. 2020, www.facebook.com/weareultraviolet.

UltraViolet​, influence watch www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/ultraviolet/.

“Welcome to UltraViolet.” ​UltraViolet​, act.weareultraviolet.org/signup/newsletter_signup_2/.

Wong, Alice. “Ep 91: Disabled Engineers.” ​Disability Visibility Project​, 27 Nov. 2020,

disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2020/11/29/ep-91-disabled-engineers/?fbclid=IwAR3rm_

BGlFQn-MpPHI2WdOKLgT5f5tvwFvzkJzFw-PaEGqqs83__HbFVyis.