MeToo movement
#MeToo[a] is a social movement and awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment.[1][2][3] The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke.[4] The hashtag #MeToo was used starting in 2017 as a way to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem. "Me Too" empowers those who have been sexually assaulted through empathy, solidarity, and strength in numbers, by visibly demonstrating how many have experienced sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.[4][5][6]
"MeToo" redirects here. Not to be confused with Me Too (disambiguation) or #MeTwo movement.
Following the exposure of numerous sexual-abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017,[7][8] the movement began to spread virally as a hashtag on social media.[6][9][10] On October 15, 2017, American actress Alyssa Milano posted on Twitter, "If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too' as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem," saying that she got the idea from a friend.[11][12][13][14] A number of high-profile posts and responses from American celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow,[15] Ashley Judd,[16] Jennifer Lawrence,[17] and Uma Thurman,[18] among others, soon followed. Widespread media coverage and discussion of sexual harassment, particularly in Hollywood, led to high-profile terminations from positions held, as well as criticism and backlash.[19][20][21]
After millions of people started using the phrase and hashtag in this manner in English, the expression began to spread to dozens of other languages. The scope has become somewhat broader with this expansion, however, and Burke has more recently referred to it as an international movement for justice for marginalized people.[22] After the hashtag #MeToo went viral in late 2017, Facebook reported that almost half of its American users were friends with someone who said they had been sexually assaulted or harassed.[23]
Financial support[edit]
In May 2018, The New York Women's Foundation announced their Fund to Support the Me Too Movement and Allies, a $25 million commitment over the next five years to provide funding and support survivors of sexual violence.[307]
In September 2018, CBS announced that it would be donating $20 million of former Chairman Les Moonves' severance to #MeToo. Moonves was forced to step down after numerous sexual misconduct accusations.[308][309]
Criticism[edit]
False accusations[edit]
There has been discussion about the extent to which accusers should be believed before fact-checking. Some have questioned whether the accused are being punished without any due process establishing their guilt.[319][320][321] Many commentators have responded that the number of false reports make up a small percentage of total reports, citing figures obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice and other organizations that have generally found that around 2–10% of rape and sexual assault allegations reported to police are determined to be false after a thorough investigation; however, the 2–10% does not include cases in which it cannot be established if the accused is innocent or guilty, nor does it include allegations that are never reported to law enforcement.[322][323]
A February 2005 study by the UK Home Office that compiled data on 2,284 reported rape cases found that from a set of 216 rape cases later found to be false, only six led to arrests and only two involved charges being filed.[324][325][326] Elle writer Jude Doyle commented that another hashtag, #BelieveWomen, was not a threat to due process but a commitment to "recognize that false allegations are less common than real ones".[326] Jennifer Wright of Harper's Bazaar proposed a similar definition of #BelieveWomen and pointed out The Washington Post's ability to quickly identify a false accusation set up by Project Veritas. She also stated that only 52 rape convictions being overturned in the United States since 1989, as opposed to 790 for murder, was strong evidence that at least 90% of rape allegations are true.[325][327] Michelle Malkin expressed a suspicion that many stories in the #MeToo movement would be exaggerated and accused news outlets of focusing on "hashtag trends spread by celebrities, anonymous claimants and bots".[328]
On November 30, 2017, Ijeoma Oluo revealed the contents of a request she received from USA Today, asking her to write a piece arguing that due process is unnecessary for sexual harassment allegations. She refused, saying "of course I believe in due process" and wrote that it was disingenuous for the paper to ask her "to be their strawman".[329]
During their 2001 divorce, model Donya Fiorentino accused actor Gary Oldman of perpetrating a domestic assault—something he maintains never took place.[330] Following an extended investigation, Oldman was cleared of wrongdoing and awarded sole legal and physical child custody;[331][332] Fiorentino received limited, state-supervised contact dependent on her passing drug and alcohol tests.[331][333] In early 2018, however, Fiorentino was granted media interviews in which to revive the assault allegation while referring to the MeToo movement.[330][331] Her commentary coincided with Oldman's Best Actor win at the 90th Academy Awards (for his performance in 2017's Darkest Hour), which was condemned by Twitter users and described by reporters as "disappointing",[334] "a referendum on the structure of Hollywood",[335] and indicative of "how much Hollywood really cares about purging the industry's toxic men".[336] Fiorentino and Oldman's son, Gulliver, lambasted "so-called 'journalists'" for perpetuating a claim that was "discredited as false years ago". He expressed trepidation about defending an accused male in the face of MeToo, saying, "I can see how coming out with a statement to combat an allegation must look. However, I was there at the time of the 'incident'."[337] Oldman's representative pointed to the 2001 courtroom outcome, accused Fiorentino of using MeToo as "convenient cover to further a personal vendetta", and requested that the press not allow the movement to be "misused as an instrument of harm to decent people by people with very bad intentions".[330][338]
On September 21, 2018, President Donald Trump claimed Christine Blasey Ford was making up her accusations against now Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, saying that if her story was true she would have filed a report against him when it had happened. This is a common argument against the MeToo movement and alleged sexual assault victims alike.[339] On October 11, 2018, First Lady Melania Trump said that women who make accusations of sexual abuse against men should back their claims with solid evidence.[340]
Undefined purpose[edit]
There has been discussion about whether the movement is meant to inspire change in all men or just a percentage of them, and what specific actions are the end goal of the movement.[341] Other women have stated #MeToo should examine only the worst types of abuse in order to prevent casting all men as perpetrators, or causing people to become numb to the problem.[319][341]
Creator Tarana Burke has laid out specific goals for the #MeToo movement, including: processing all untested rape kits in the United States, investigating the vetting of teachers, better protecting children at school, updating sexual harassment policies, and improving training in workplaces, places of worship, and schools. She has stated that everyone in a community, including men and women, must act to make the #MeToo movement a success. She also supports the #MeToo Congress bill and hopes it will inspire similar legal changes in other parts of the country.[22]
Samantha Geimer, the victim of rape by film director Roman Polanski, said that "when it's used as a weapon to attack famous people or harm and demonize certain people I don't think that's ever what #MeToo was meant for and it's become kind of toxic and lost its value".[342]
Overcorrection[edit]
Richard Ackland described the response to defamation cases "an asphyxiating vortex of litigation".[343]
There has been discussion on whether harsh consequences are warranted for particular examples of alleged misconduct.[319][320][321] An especially divisive story broke on Babe.net on January 13, 2018, when an anonymous accuser detailed the events of her date with Aziz Ansari and referred to what transpired as "sexual assault". Jill Filipovic wrote for The Guardian that "it was only a matter of time before a publication did us the disservice of publishing a sensational story of a badly behaved man who was nonetheless not a sexual assailant".[344][345][346] James Hamblin wrote for The Atlantic that, instead, these "stories of gray areas are exactly what ... need to be told and discussed."[347]
Some actors have admonished proponents of the movement for not distinguishing between different degrees of sexual misconduct. Matt Damon commented on the phenomenon in an interview, and later apologized, saying "the clearer signal to men and to younger people is, deny it. Because if you take responsibility for what you did, your life's going to get ruined."[348] Subsequently, Liam Neeson opined that some accused men, including Garrison Keillor and Dustin Hoffman, had been treated unfairly.[20]
Tarana Burke said in January 2018, "Those of us who do this work know that backlash is inevitable." While describing the backlash as carrying an underlying sentiment of fairness, she defended her movement as "not a witch hunt as people try to paint it". She stated that engaging with the cultural critique in #MeToo was more productive than calling for it to end or focusing on accused men who "haven't actually touched anybody".[19] Ronan Farrow, who published the Weinstein exposé in the New Yorker that helped start the #MeToo resurgence (alongside New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor), was asked in late December 2017 whether he thought the movement had "gone too far". Farrow called for a careful examination of each story to guard against false accusations but also recalled the alleged sexual abuse his sister Dylan Farrow claims she went through at the hands of his father Woody Allen. He stated that after decades of silence, "My feeling is that this is a net benefit to society and that all of the people, men, and women, pouring forward and saying 'me too' deserve this moment. I think you're right to say that we all have to be conscious of the risk of the pendulum swinging too far, but in general this is a very positive step."[21]
Ijeoma Oluo spoke about how some Democrats have expressed regret over the resignation of Senator Al Franken due to allegations of sexual misconduct. She sympathized with them but stressed the importance of punishing misconduct regardless of whether the perpetrator is viewed as "a bad guy" overall. She wrote that "most abusers are more like Al Franken than Harvey Weinstein".[349] The New York Times has called this discussion the "Louis C.K. Conundrum", referring to the admission by comedian Louis C.K. that he committed sexual misconduct with five women, and the subsequent debate over whether any guilt should be associated with enjoyment of his work.[350][351][352] Jennifer Wright of Harper's Bazaar has said that public fears of an overcorrection reflect the difficulty of accepting that "likeable men can abuse women too".[327]
A 2019 LeanIn.Org/SurveyMonkey survey showed that 60 percent of male managers reported being "too nervous" of being accused of harassment when mentoring, socializing, or having one-on-one meetings with women in the workplace.[353][354] A 2019 study in the journal Organizational Dynamics, published by Elsevier, found that men are significantly more reluctant to interact with their female colleagues. Examples include 27 percent of men avoid one-on-one meetings with female co-workers, 21 percent of men said they would be reluctant to hire women for a job that would require close interaction (such as business travel), and 19 percent of men being reluctant to hire an attractive woman.[355][356]
Possible trauma to victims[edit]
The hashtag has been criticized for putting the responsibility of publicizing sexual harassment and abuse on those who experienced it, which could be re-traumatizing.[357][358][359] The hashtag has been criticized as inspiring fatigue and outrage, rather than emotionally dense communication.[360][361]
Exclusion of sex workers[edit]
There have been many calls for the #MeToo movement to include sex workers and sex trafficking victims.[362][363][364][365] Although these women experience a higher rate of sexual harassment and assault than any other group of people, they are often seen in society as legitimate targets that deserve such acts against them.[366] Autumn Burris stated that prostitution is like "#MeToo on steroids" because the sexual harassment and assault described in #MeToo stories are frequent for women in prostitution.[362] Melissa Farley argues that prostitution, even when consensual, can be a form of sexual assault, as it can be for money for food or similar items, thus, at least according to Farley, making prostitution a forced lifestyle relying on coercions for food.[366] Many sex workers disagree with her stance, saying that she stigmatizes prostitution.[367] According to Ashwini Tambe, the definition of coercion shouldn't only be determined on person decision to say yes or no. Instead, it should also be determined whether one person has control or influence over the other person. She also states that one might decipher whether such a request is a certain threat or force. That's why she states that transacting in sex or exchanging sex for something means that coercion is still in the picture even if its consensual.[368]
American journalist Steven Thrasher noted that, "There has been worry that the #MeToo movement could lead to a sex panic. But the real sex panic is not due to feminism run amok, but due to the patriarchal, homophobic, transantagonistic, theocratic desire of the US Congress to control sex workers." He points to the 2018 Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), which many experts say will only put sex workers at further risk by causing them to go underground, does not offer sex workers any help or protections, and as a side effect prevents most people from using online personal ads regardless of their intentions.[369]
British filmmaker Bizhan Tong, a figure involved in various gender equality initiatives, wrote, directed, and self-funded the feature film The Escort[370] after conducting a series of interviews with current and former sex workers in a direct attempt to lend a platform for their voices to be heard.[371] The film was shot in 2017 and completed in 2018, premiered in New York in August that year, and received several awards across the globe.[372] It is currently being adapted for the stage.
Failure to address police misconduct[edit]
Despite the prevalence of sexual misconduct, some have pointed out the lack of discussion in the #MeToo movement regarding law-enforcement misconduct.[373][374][375][376]
Police sexual misconduct disproportionately affects women of color, though women from all races are affected.[376] The Cato Institute reported that in 2010, more than 9% of police misconduct reports in 2010 involved sexual abuse, and there are multiple indications that "sexual assault rates are significantly higher for police when compared to the general population."[374] Fear of retribution is considered one reason some law-enforcement officers are not subjected to significant consequences for known misconduct.[373] Police-reform activist Roger Goldman stated that an officer who is fired for sexual misconduct from one police department often gets rehired by a different department, where they can continue the misconduct in a new environment.[373] Some states (such as Florida and Georgia) have licensing laws that can decertify a law-enforcement officer who has committed major misconduct, which prevents decertified officers from being hired again in that state.[373] Some have called for sexual misconduct allegations against police to be investigated by third parties to reduce bias (as opposed to the common practice of investigations being led by fellow law-enforcement officers or colleagues in the same department).[376]
Lack of representation of minority women[edit]
Many have pointed to a lack of representation of minority women in the #MeToo movement or its leadership.[377][378][379][380][381][382] Most historical feminist movements have contained active elements of racism, and have typically ignored the needs of non-white women[383] even though minority women are more likely to be targets of sexual harassment.[377][378][379][380][381]
Minority women are overrepresented in industries with the greatest number of sexual harassment claims, for example hotels, health, food services, and retail.[379] It has been pointed out that undocumented minority women often have no recourse if they are experiencing sexual violence.[384] Activist Charlene Carruthers said, "If wealthy, highly visible women in news and entertainment are sexually harassed, assaulted and raped—what do we think is happening to women in retail, food service and domestic work?"[379]
Survivor Farah Tanis stated there are also additional barriers for black women who want to participate in the #MeToo movement. She pointed out that social pressure discourages reports against black men, especially from church and family, because many would view that as a betrayal against their "brothers".[384] Additionally, black women are less likely to be believed if they do speak out.[384]
Some have argued that the American judicial system acknowledges the term "sexual harassment" only because of successful sexual harassment lawsuits by three black women: Diane Williams and Paulette Barnes against the US government, and Mechelle Vinson against a bank.[385] Vinson's case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson led to the unanimous 1986 Supreme Court decision that sexual harassment violates the Civil Rights Act.[378][379] Black law professor Anita Hill again brought sexual harassment to public discourse in 1991 with her testimony against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.[378][379][386]
Tarana Burke initially criticized the movement for ignoring the work of black women in creating dialogue addressing sexual assault. However, she did salute those who partook in the movement and credited Milano for acknowledging Burke's own similar movement.[387] As well as this, she pleaded to black women not to drop out of the movement just because the media isn't listening saying "This is your movement, too."[388]
American feminist and journalist Gloria Steinem said there is a blind spot surrounding intersectionality between race and gender, and a major problem with today's feminists is they are not acknowledging "that women of color in general—and especially black women—have always been more likely to be feminist than white women."[377] Steinem argues that #MeToo could never have happened without the work of these women, and women in the #MeToo movement have a responsibility: "If you have more power, remember to listen as much as you talk. And if you have less power, remember to talk as much as you listen."[378]
Overemphasis on specific cases[edit]
The #MeToo movement has been criticized for putting too much public focus on the consequences of specific individuals who have been accused of sexual misconduct, as opposed to discussing policies and changes to institutional norms that would help people currently experiencing sexual abuse.[389] It's been noted that although allegations surrounding high-profile public figures tend to attract the most attention, the stories of regular workers often go unacknowledged.[1] Yet to ensure meaningful change, these workers' experiences must be at the center of any policy solutions that lawmakers pursue. Tarana Burke has voiced similar misgivings, pointing out one problematic aspect of #MeToo is "All of this media attention is on the perpetrator. All of the conversation about fairness and due process is focused on the perpetrator." She states the movement should focus on specific steps to help current and future sufferers.[390] Activist and writer Jaclyn Friedman said, "We've got to stop treating each case that comes to light like a self-contained soap opera that ends when the villain is defeated, and start addressing the systems that have enabled workplace sexual abuse for so long."[391] Writer Jia Tolentino has stated that it is natural to focus on the individual stories because they are "gripping and horrible", but determining the best workplace changes "doesn't have a ton to do with the specific investigation and adjudication of men that have already done this".[392]
Disregard for incarcerated women[edit]
Prisoners' rights are significantly limited, and the power imbalance between female inmates and male officers allows and promotes prison rape and other forms of abuse.[393] Many people have criticized the prison system for punishing women who act in self-defense.[394] Others criticize the main outreach of the Me Too movement for failing to address the systemic imprisonment of abused women and men.[394][395][396]
The development of #MeToo Behind Bars happened after a lawsuit was filed by four female inmates against correctional officers that brutally abused them.[397] This new campaign's purpose is to bring awareness to the public of sexual violence towards women in prison. Sara Kershner, lead campaign organizer, mentions that the perpetrators of this type of violence is usually the state, institutions, and society.[397] She believes society disregards human rights of those who are incarcerated simply because they do not deserve them. As a result, there is no solidarity.
