Book Review: Kissling, Elizabeth Arveda. From a Whisper to a Shout: How Social Media Activism is Challenging Abortion Stigma (2018)

Kissling, Elizabeth Arveda. 2018. From a Whisper to a Shout: How Social Media Activism is Challenging Abortion Stigma. New York: Repeater Books, 127pp. $14.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-91224-02-5

Driving to and from work over the last six months, I decided to start listening to audiobooks since I had a 40-minute commute each way. During this time, I listened to five books, all of which were stories told about women, by women, or for women, such as Becoming by Michelle Obama, Dare to Lead by Brené Brown, Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, and Educated by Tara Westover. Sometime back in March, I received a copy of From a Whisper to a Shout: How Social Media Activism is Challenging Abortion Stigma by Elizabeth Arveda Kissling while simultaneously listening to the audiobook Shrill by Lindy West who is a self-proclaimed feminist. Situated on the cover of Kissling’s book is Venus de Milo’s face, the goddess of love and beauty. In smaller font, reads “Abortion Activism and Social Media” hanging in a large quotation mark over Venus de Milo’s mouth. Kissling’s argument parallels West’s mission to eliminate the shame surrounding abortion by encouraging women to share their abortion stories and/or to listen to and support the women who want to share their stories. This book addresses the broader issue of societal control or policing of women’s bodies, specifically women’s reproductive health, by focusing on abortion using women’s narratives.

Kissling uses a feminist approach to address the broader issue of how society polices and controls women’s bodies through abortion regulation. Her argument is that women experience abortion stigma and shame because they are not welcome to share their abortion stories. In her prior book, Capitalizing on the Curse: The Business of Menstruation (2006) Kissling explored the profound gender bias inherent in the lucrative business of capitalizing on menstruation. She revealed how menstruation is stigmatized and used by corporations to portray women as hindered by their menstrual cycle. Kissling demonstrates the antagonism towards abortion and pushes her argument forward by profiling four organizations that are integrating feminist tactics and political strategies in an effort to eliminate abortion stigma.

In six chapters, Kissling documents the history of abortion through practices, legislation, and regulation in the U.S. “Abortion,” Kissing states at the beginning of her book, “Can we finally stop whispering about it?” (1) She explains to the reader that she is not celebrating the act of abortion or making a value judgement but that she is encouraging women to support and listen to women who want to share their abortion story. In her middle three chapters she focuses on how four organizations, #ShoutYourAbortion, Lady Parts Justice, #WeTestify, and The Abortion Diary are utilizing social media to provide women with a safe place to share their abortion stories. She concludes that even though one in three women have an abortion, the abortion stigma exists and women are shamed for this choice. Moreover, Kissling states that because there is a norm of silence surrounding abortion, challenging and confronting abortion stigma while promoting abortion access becomes impossible unless women share their stories.

One of the great strengths of Kissling’s scholarship is the use of the theory of consciousness-raising and the method of subjectivity. In other words, she uses women’s narratives in an attempt to normalize the discussion of abortion and reduce stigma. West, who co-founded #ShoutYourAbortion social media campaign on Twitter also used a story-telling method to share her abortion experience for the purpose of destigmatization. Kissling uses a similar approach to advance her argument – by profiling the above-mentioned four organizations, she shows that when women are free to share and support each other’s narratives without shame or being shamed helps to destigmatize abortion. The method of women sharing abortion stories is also an effective and powerful tool in organizing activists to mobilize an action or movement.

Kissling’s book is eminently readable. In her final chapter, she circles back to her thesis and writes, “Silence lets abortion opponents write the story – the wrong story” (101). Her book encourages the reader to share their story, listen to other’s stories, and most importantly, to support all women whether or not they share their narrative. Her book favors narrative over argumentation, and as a result, this book is suitable for a wider readership, as the text is accessible. Scholars and students are challenged to explore the shameful issue of abortion through a new lens; perhaps using a shift in consciousness to understand that abortion is not a gift, but a fundamental right.