This article explores the case of glitter bombing, a short-lived form of protest in the LGBT rights movement, to understand the mechanisms behind the decline of a novel tactic. To date, little attention has been directed toward tactics that have disappeared from movement repertoires. Using interview data, I find that glitter bombing declined due to many of the same factors that initially provided momentum for its diffusion. First, it was specific to LGBT rights to the degree that the audience of potential adopters was limited. At the same time, the radical nature of glitter bombing meant that adopters were peripheral movement actors who lacked organizational support. Activists dedicated limited resources to gaining media attention and online popularity, often at the cost of other crucial aspects of mobilization. Finally, an increase in repression multiplied these challenges by posing risks to adopters and shifting media coverage away from the tactic's celebratory framing.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
1 September 2016
Articles|
September 01 2016
How Glitter Bombing Lost Its Sparkle: The Emergence and Decline of a Novel Social Movement Tactic*
Anya M. Galli
Anya M. Galli
†
Please direct all correspondence to [email protected].
Search for other works by this author on:
Mobilization: An International Quarterly (2016) 21 (3): 259–281.
Citation
Anya M. Galli; How Glitter Bombing Lost Its Sparkle: The Emergence and Decline of a Novel Social Movement Tactic. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 1 September 2016; 21 (3): 259–281. doi: https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-20-3-259
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionCiting articles via
PATRIARCHAL ERASURE AND MANUFACTURED PASSIVITY: ASYMMETRIC GOVERNMENT AND NEWS MEDIA ATTENTION TO PROTESTS IN CHINA
Linda Hong Cheng, Yao Lu, Han Zhang
BOOK REVIEWS
Kelsy Kretschmer