It takes two sides to make a war. I think the idea in the article is that one group reacts to the other group which forms a doubling down.

Dodging difficult questions is a skill most politicians seem to possess, in comparison.

So in the feminist example it's not that the feminists publicize a certain ambiguous case, it's that they double down when criticized by the out group. This strengthens the in group and amplifies the message.

Another issue is "what is publicity?" . What does it mean? Is getting something in the news or blogs or trending on twitter an aim in itself? How does the publicity machine work? What gets eyeballs, attention, etc? Is activism a form of marketing primarily?

Is activism just a capitalist activity selling something? Is there a conflict with activist who want to change things. Is attention activism at odds with the political process, or could it be the primary way most people do politics?