Essay: The #MeToo movement

The #MeToo movement is a social movement that started off as a viral social moment that was not necessarily going to last. Viral protests either end quickly or continue and make much social change. That is what makes the #MeToo movement significant; it has lasted longer than a viral moment and has produced great social change. It examines sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual assault is “any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, tribal, or State law, including when the victim lacks capacity to consent” (“Sexual Assault”). Sexual harassment is “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature” (“Sexual Harassment”). Through the use of social media and national news, the #MeToo movement has impacted the workplace environment by initiating change in policies and culture towards sexual harassment and mistreatment in order to make it less tolerated and more recognized. The changes in policies and culture regarding sexual abuse are seen through Hostler’s and O’Neil’s theory of framing sexual violence as a social and cultural problem and Bayat’s theory of performing mundane doings in social nonmovements.
The #MeToo movement is a movement against sexual harassment and assault, primarily in the workplace. This movement became viral on October 15, 2017, when American actress Alyssa Milano used the hashtag #MeToo on Twitter in an attempt to showcase how widespread sexual harassment and assault is. Milano encouraged victims to share their stories using the hashtag in order to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” This was the start of the popular movement. Many celebrities used the hashtag as well, giving the movement even more widespread attention. However, this was not the first time this hashtag was used in hopes to showcase the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault. In 2006, American social activist and community organizer Tarana Burke used the phrase “Me Too” on Myspace as part of a campaign. Her goal was to promote “empowerment through empathy” amongst women of color who have encountered sexual abuse (Hostler). This phrase is what Burke wished she said to a young girl who confided in her that she had been sexually assaulted, but in the moment, didn’t know how to respond. Milano’s tweet reviving this movement has been used more than 500,00 the day after being published, and the hashtag on Facebook was used by more than 4.7 million people, consisting of 12 million posts within the first day. This movement has been particularly impactful in Hollywood, politics, and academia. Many employers are being forced to make changes in response to the movement, such as examining gender-based pay differences and sexual harassment policies. In addition, many politicians, teachers, and celebrities are now having their jobs and careers being examined if they should still keep them. This movement went viral via social media and was spread internationally via national news outlets.
As the #MeToo movement was taking shape, according to Monika Hostler and Moira O’Neil in “Reframing Sexual Violence: From #MeToo to Time’s Up,” women were fighting to frame sexual violence as a cultural problem rather than as an individual problem. This movement is tasked with reframing the entire system of sexual violence norms. How this movement has made real progress while most others have not is because of the addition of context. With the #MeToo movement, women are sharing their stories regarding sexual violence, particularly in workplace environments. Instead of people reading statistics and data regarding sexual violence, they are reading and hearing real stories from social media and national news media, leaving a lasting impact. Now, famous celebrities, politicians, and even ordinary bosses are having their actions checked and their job status reconsidered after their pasts were exposed using the #MeToo hashtag. Stories of famous people being fired or suspended from their jobs because of previous sexual harassment or assault claims are being broadcasted on national news, providing the movement with national attention. Instead of punishing abusers, the solution is “helping bring legal claims against those who commit violence and holding the institutions that support them accountable” (Hostler). The conversation surrounding this topic has shifted from focusing on the victims to the abusers. Victims are sharing their stories via the media calling out their abuser. Rather than seeing sexual violence as a norm or just “something that happened” to someone, the abuser is emphasized.
In addition to publicly sharing stories on social media and having stories broadcasted on national news, #MeToo movement participants are making small encroachments in their daily lives in order to change society in regard to sexual abuse. The reason that the #MeToo movement became a movement rather than a moment is because of how long it has lasted since it went viral. It is actively changing society. Not only has society changed because of the coverage it is getting on social media and national news, but also because of the small encroachments people have made in society to change the way people think about sexual abuse. Bayat’s theory of “social nonmovements” describes the mobilization of individuals and families who strive to enhance their lives in a lasting collective effort with no ideology or leadership. Because social media connects people easily and quickly “with a wide audience, the synergy creates a movement en masse of like-minded persons. A leader is not needed” (Thompson 175). Nonmovements tend to be action based and “embody shared practices of large numbers of ordinary people whose fragmented but similar activities trigger much social change” (Bayat 15). For example, to illustrate Bayat’s theory, women who experience inequality with men perform “masculine” chores, including changing tires, negotiating with repair persons, etc., in an attempt to perform mundane methods of resisting. With the power of large groups, actions of resistance were bound to lead to significant changes and structural encroachments on a patriarchal society. Structural changes have occurred because of the #MeToo movement, as shown when the Person of the Year on the cover of Time magazine were multiple women, labeled as the “Silence Breakers.” Following this was national coverage and a trending hashtag for these women of the year. In modern society, women are told to look and act a certain way, not given the same opportunities as men, specifically related to the workforce, and experience gender-based violence. An example of a mundane method of resisting these societal standards is women wearing pants and flats to work rather than tight skirts, dresses, and heels. This counteracts societal standards of women having to dress a certain way as well as lessen the sexualization of women in the workplace. With small encroachments such as these, the road to a better society is closer.
The #MeToo movement covers two themes, one being sexual assault. Posts on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag have reached into the millions. According to Pew Research Center, the hashtag has been used more than 19 million times on Twitter as of October 2018, averaging to 55,319 uses per day. On Facebook, “The 3-million strong Facebook group Pantsuit Nation saw hundreds of thousands of posts about experiences of misogyny” (Tambe 198). This is a way for people to come together to gain power from empathizing with each other. As Hostler and O’Neil explain, the sexual assault problem is not an individual problem, but rather a social and cultural problem. The lack of dialect around sexual assault has been the biggest concern, and now with the #MeToo movement, a popular dialect is now finally forming, specifically on social media and is being covered on national news. Because of celebrity participation, “Many…have spoken publicly about their experiences, resulting in extensive media coverage on an issue that has historically been swept under the rug” (Harvey). Media coverage and the longevity of this movement have played into part the outcomes of this movement, proving that this is a social and cultural issue. This movement has changed the dialect around sexual assault. Not only are more policies in school and work settings being put into place, but sexual assault is no longer a non-issue, something that “just happens sometimes.” In addition, people are now beginning to more likely believe the victims than the accused. This is what has brought about the court cases against perpetrators and firings. It is because of media that this movement has addressed this large social and cultural problem of sexual assault on a larger scale, and it appears to be making significant progressions.
The other theme the #MeToo movement covers is sexual harassment in the workplace. So many women have come forward about their experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace, sometimes against those in high-profile positions, such as celebrities, politicians, or even bosses of companies. Although the public stories emerging brought about surprise and anger, they also “inspired hope that the prevalence of harassment in the workplace would lessen because [people] were finally taking harassment seriously” (Porter). Victims have, for a long time now, been silenced. In a workplace environment, victims have been either ignored, paid off, etc. in order to keep the accused safe. Although this still occurs today, the #MeToo movement has made significant strides in resolving this issue by forming new policies, creating new workplace cultures, etc. Not only has sexual harassment been brought up within this movement, it has also been addressed as a nonmovement would. According to Bayat’s theory of social nonmovements, it describes the efforts of those who strive to improve their lives in a lasting and communal effort without any leadership or ideology. An example of this has been dressing against societal norms in order to combat sexualizing women in the workplace. An addition has been how women treat men in workplace settings, by avoiding actions that may be considered “sexually connotative…mundane behaviors (eg., maintaining eye contact, having dinner, complimenting)” (Lindren). It was the mundane doing of avoiding these mundane behaviors that was a reason the #MeToo movement transpired; women wanted to get louder. Before #MeToo was declared a movement, women were making these types of encroachments in order to change societal norms. In order to make their voices heard, women took to Twitter and Facebook with their empathetic hashtag, leading to the movement it is today.
The #MeToo movement has brought about so much change in terms of the culture and policies surrounding sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. This viral hashtag turned the moment into a movement that is being broadcasted daily on Twitter and Facebook and is constantly gaining national news coverage with each new famous allegation. Through the use of social media and national news, the #MeToo movement has impacted the workplace environment by initiating change in policies and culture towards sexual harassment and mistreatment in order to make it less tolerated and more recognized. The changes in policies and culture regarding sexual abuse are seen through Hostler’s and O’Neil’s theory of framing sexual violence as a social and cultural problem and Bayat’s theory of performing mundane doings in social nonmovements.