By Elaine Godfrey, Photo: Ethan Aaro Jones/The Atlantic, The Atlantic, June 5, 2022
The instagram influencer’s workshop on abortion was not meant to persuade anyone. But by the end of the 2,000-person, five-hour Zoom history lesson, at least a few attendees were thinking differently about one of the most fraught topics in American politics. “I personally believe in the sacredness of life,” Shelley Smith, a conservative participant from California, told me afterward. But “something that was important for me to learn was [that] my personal beliefs shouldn’t trump someone else’s body autonomy.”
Sharon McMahon, the 45-year-old Instagram star in question, regularly performs what amounts to a magic trick. Hearing information that challenges our beliefs does not usually feel good. Yet participants in McMahon’s abortion workshop did not seem to want the lesson to end. They listened as she described early case law and the right to privacy. They peppered her with questions about “personhood” and “viability”; they divulged personal stories, and shared their most closely held religious views. The Zoom chat filled up with reassurances whenever someone raised their hand: Thank you for bravely speaking up. One woman asked McMahon whether lawmakers should be allowed to use their religion to justify banning abortion. “That is the million-dollar question, Courtney!” McMahon replied. “All of society’s laws are based on a society’s morals. Where do people’s morals come from?”
How—and whether—to bridge the deep and growing ideological divide between Americans has become the ambient question in politics today. Some people seem to believe that the best way forward on issues like abortion, gun control, and COVID-19 is to shout and shame across the chasm. McMahon, who explains the news and unpacks political arguments on her Instagram page, Sharon Says So, has a different approach. And, remarkably, people seem to like it: As of this writing, McMahon has 900,000 followers—or “Governerds,” as her fans call themselves. The Sharon Says So podcast is among the top-ranked government podcasts on Apple, and thousands of people tune in live for McMahon’s monthly deep-dive workshops. The majority of McMahon’s followers are women—90 percent, she estimates—partly because most Instagram users are women. Someone in your life is probably a Governerd; a sister, maybe, or a co-worker. My high-school friends love her. So does my mom. McMahon lives in Duluth, Minnesota, but the Governerds live everywhere, in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, and a handful of other countries. White House staffers have called McMahon about her work; aides for Republican and Democratic lawmakers and candidates have emailed to ask about getting their bosses on the podcast.
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