Do You Stand with Wendy Davis?

“Do you stand with Wendy Davis?”

I was taken aback. I’d just been introduced to a friend-of-a-friend and who asked my job title, which happens to have the word “conservative” in it. The way he asked the question demonstrated the unnerving ability of social media strategy to change not only the content, but the tone of our conversation. A carefully-crafted hashtag was now framing the way I discussed abortion with strangers.

“No, I don’t,” I responded. I didn’t add anything else for the moment, feeling that I’d already reached my “reproductive rights” discussion limit for a night out with my friends in Houston.

My new acquaintance asked me to explain and told me “I don’t know any other conservative girls your age.” For those of you not currently residing in Houston, this may sound more shocking than it is; our Texas city is quite socially liberal (move over our mayor Anise Parker is the first openly-gay person to lead a major U.S. city). Nevertheless, nationwide, the percentage of people who support unrestricted abortion, specifically in the 20^th to 24^th week of pregnancy (supporting this means “standing with Wendy”), is surprisingly small. There is no doubt that the majority of Americans support abortion to some extent, but recent polls point out that a majority of Americans don’t believe it should be legal in the second trimester (Week 13-26), and eighty percent oppose it in the third. So, when asked about the specifics of abortion, the vast majority of women don’t stand with Wendy Davis. But that’s not really my point.

A part of this story that hasn’t gotten much attention is the incredible branding and social media strategy that Wendy Davis’ filibuster received. The hashtag #standwithwendy received over 500,000 mentions on Twitter during the showdown. Those who do #standwithwendy managed to re-cast a political issue about which they represente a minority, and turn it into a positive narrative of underdog status and heroism. Whether or not they are right on the principles, it showed just how important marketing is to our political reality. Suddenly, this filibuster was a noble, beleaguered defense in the tradition of the Alamo. In short, America discovered that more women will say “I stand with Wendy” than “I support second trimester abortion”. The momentum of a crucial debate was swayed not by a new argument or new evidence but a social media makeover.