Journaling and Safety for Sensitive Idealists and Activists
Finding Safety to Journal in a Post-Roe Society
My HSP client* asked the question within hours after the news that Roe v. Wade had been overturned: “is it time to take my journaling offline?”
It landed like a punch to the gut. My own broken heart was prepared to support my clients as they processed their fears, anger, and disbelief at the overturning of Roe. Perhaps naively, I wasn’t prepared for a discussion of journaling and cybersecurity in the post-Roe era.
My client went on to talk about their fears of their history being used against them, including their choices regarding abortion, contraception, and membership in activist groups related to their LGBBTQIA+ identity. They feared for themselves, their friends, their partners past and current.
What if the government, or as in the case of Texas, citizens deputized by the government, were empowered to enforce laws limiting private behaviors?
Suddenly, for my client, social media and platforms like WordPress and Blogger no longer felt like safe havens from which to anonymously share their personal story. And my client was far from alone: most activists I’ve spoken with, regardless of the causes they’re advocating for, are more fearful of being public with their opinions and activities.
Safety in the Post-Roe Era
In an age without Roe, where judicial threats to same-sex marriage, contraception, and other basic rights and equalities are now part of the landscape, it has never been more important to protect and control one’s personal information, particularly while exercising one’s Constitutional rights to free speech and/or assembly (i.e., peaceful protests and public demonstrations).
I’m not a legal scholar, a cybersecurity expert, or a trained political organizer. So, in respecting the limits of my expertise, I want to share several resources that I’ve found to be personally helpful in thinking through issues of security online and, if you choose, for protecting yourself if you attend peaceful protests of any kind.
· Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self-Defense guides
· Digital Defense Fund’s guides for phone and online privacy, including pregnancy/abortion safety
· Planned Parenthood’s Protest Tips (applicable to all peaceful protests, regardless of issue)
· ACLU’s Protesters’ Rights FAQs
This list is in no way comprehensive. I cannot vouch for the suitability of every statement for every person, so be sure to vet the information for yourself. If you have other resources to share, please post them to the comments or share them with me directly and I will post them anonymously.
The Question of Safety in Online Journaling
I cannot tell you that you should or shouldn’t journal digitally. My client wasn’t asking me to give them an answer to that question, just to help them think through the potential risks. Here are some questions we reflected on together that you might want to consider:
· How likely are you to journal about something that could come under government scrutiny, now or in the future?
· What is your personal level of risk tolerance or avoidance?
· How competent do you feel in mitigating your digital privacy risk (password-protecting your device, two-factor authentication, using encryption, choosing apps or software that offers greater privacy protection, even using a burner phone)?
· What are the potential costs of having your privacy compromised—digitally or on paper?
· Who or what will be your resources for support if your journaling is used against you?
These are heavy questions.
My gut feeling is that the most comprehensive way to protect yourself from potential scrutiny is to journal the old-fashioned way, on paper. Then fully destroy your writing by burning it or using a cross-cut shredder. This may feel extreme, but on the other hand, this moment in history is extreme as well.
If you’re not ready to go to that length, consider journaling on paper and preserving it in a safe space where it is inaccessible to other people. Or use paper journaling for the most sensitive subject matter and limit digital journaling to subjects that may be benign. There are also many steps you can take to make digital journaling safer, using the resources above or others you might find.
Safety matters.
Psychological and physical safety are the cornerstones of health and growth. Journaling is meant to be a safe space for us to honestly explore everything, without censoring ourselves.
Safety is especially important for highly sensitive people, because we need to deeply process our experiences.
If we can’t write freely, without fear of discovery by someone in our personal lives or someone in the government, it’s hard to imagine how we can use journaling effectively.
We owe it to ourselves to make our journaling practices as safe as possible. Ask yourself what you need. Find the resources to help you create that safety for yourself.
And then, in the safety of your journal, write. There is so much within all of us crying out for expression, that bears witnessing, and deserves a safe space.
I’m journal writing with you in solidarity, broken hearted and enraged, looking for ways to be the change I want to see in the world.
Be safe.
Be honest.
Be brave.
Be a journal writer, unwilling to be silenced.
*My deepest gratitude to this client, who gave me permission to include this anecdote.
