As an international student from Hong Kong, I realized how there is less engagement in online activism in Ireland compared to countries like the US. The #MeToo that emerged in the US has enormous political effects. In the study of media in my course, I learned that new social media platforms have a huge influence on how political events now unfold. Sylvia Walby’s idea of patriarchal gender violence seen in #MeToo can be considered as a major movement in fourth wave feminism. While writing blog entries is a suitable action in this context, I hope that it will stimulate action and awareness in others to bring about political change.
-Rianna
What is the #metoo movement ?
The #metoo movement is a movement that is against rape culture, sexual harassment and abuse. People publicize their experiences of them online with the hashtag #metoo to empower other victims of sexual assault through empathy, solidarity and strength in numbers.
Events in the movement
The #metoo movement is started by Tarana Burke, in 2006 who promoted the Me Too movement with her nonprofit organization 'Just Inc'. It aimed to help survivors of sexual assault and rape. She began using the phrase 'Me Too' on the social network, 'My Space' to empower women, especially colored women that has experienced sexual assault. The phrase was taken from when Burke heard the experience of sexual assault from a 13 year old girl at a summer camp. After hearing her experience, Burke could not give a response to her at the moment. She could not even respond with 'me too'.
The movement was popularized in 2017 where sexual assault allegations where made against Hollywood film producer, Harvey Weinstein. Actresses such as Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan and employees of Weinstein came forward to accuse him of it. Following the incident, actress Alyssa Milano posted the following on her blog, 'If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet'. People started sharing their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse on the social media with the hashtag #metoo. In the first 24 hours, there were 12 million Facebook posts and over 1 million Tweets using the #metoo hashtag. Famous celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Terry Crews and Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about their experiences of sexual harassment. It became a world wide movement, people around the world from different backgrounds like people from the military and athletes came forward to share their experiences online.
General Effects of the Movement
more than 200 high-profiled men and some women have been accused of sexual harassment allegations
7% increase in the reporting of sex crimes in the USA from October to December 2017
14% increase in sex crime report in the 24 countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the same period
The reports were spread evenly across racial and socioeconomical groups
better representation of women in Hollywood as Weinstein associated companies:
-hired 40%more female writers
-are more likely to defy gender roles in productions
74% of women said they thought they would be more willing now to speak out against harassment in survey
77% of men anticipated being more careful about potentially inappropriate behavior in survey
victims of sexual harassment are empowered by other's experience.
Counter movements
#MenToo is a movement that started in India that aimed at protecting men from false sexual misconduct accusations upending their lives. The movement was widely spread out after Bollywood actress Pooja Bedi and Founder of Purush Aayog Barkha Trehan appealed to bring gender neutral laws and investigation, after actor Karan Oberoi was arrested on 5 May 2019 due to a sexual harassment complaint filed against him by his ex-girlfriend.
#HimToo is a movement supporting male victims of sexual assault and false rape allegations. This reaction to the #MeToo movement started in October 2018 after a tweet from a mother about her son being afraid to date because of a climate of false rape allegations.
These movements just like #MeToo are used online platforms to spread their movements.
Political Change from in the US after the online movement
#MeToo is an online movement that started in the US. It had major political effects in the country.
Legislation changes
Multiple legislation regarding reports of sex crimes has changed after the #metoo movement. #Metoo has been cited when passing these laws. Raised awareness of sex crimes due to the movement has influenced politicians to make change to laws to protect victims of sex crimes.
“Obviously the #MeToo movement has had a huge impact on our conversations and that’s been terrific, but I’ve been concerned that many movements that are dialogues and open conversations don’t necessarily produce real change, so I wanted to make sure we were seizing the moment,” said Washington state Sen. Karen Keiser, a Democrat who sponsored NDA legislation enacted this year. “The only way I know how to do that in any substantive way is to pass a law.”
Statelinereview found at least 32 lawmakers who left office, or lost influential positions in legislatures, in the face of such accusations
Non-Disclosure Agreements
Non-Disclosure agreements are widely used to silence victims of sexual crimes. It stops victims from coming forward to report them as they could easily be sued or fined if they do so. Nondisclosure agreements allow the continual harassment of multiple victims over long periods of time. In many cases, the agreements were folded into financial settlements designed to compensate former employees while barring them from speaking about the harassment and abuse they experienced.
In 2018, right after the the popularization of the movement:
None of the new laws in the US ban the use of nondisclosure agreements for sexual abuse and harassment outright, but six states in the us made changes to the previously untouched laws to bar using the agreements at hiring. Others ensure NDAs can’t stop victims from coming forward in criminal proceedings.
For example:
In Washington, state lawmakers approved a package of bills targeting NDAs that cover sexual abuse and harassment, and employers there will no longer be able to require people to sign them as a condition for employment.
In Arizona, the law enacted this year says the agreements cannot stop victims from participating in criminal proceedings that relate to their abuse, but it doesn’t stop employers from using them at hiring.
In 2022, almost five years after the movement:
Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 is passed and made law in the US
individuals bringing sexual assault and sexual harassment claims who entered into predispute arbitration agreements or predispute class- or collective-action waivers now have the option to reject those agreements and waivers and instead bring those claims in court or to bring such claims via a class or collective action
it prevents forced arbitration that is usually used to silence victims of sex crimes
Speak Out Act 2022 is passed by the senate
allows non- disclosure agreements to be judicially enforceable in instances in which conduct is alleged to have violated Federal, Tribal, or State law.
Rape Kits Testing backlog
A rape kit is a package of items used by medical personnel for gathering and preserving physical evidence following an allegation of sexual assault. The evidence collected from the victim can aid the criminal rape investigation and the prosecution of a suspected assailant. However, data shows them in multiple states of the US, there are thousands of backlogs of rape kits waiting to be tested.
passage of a number of bills dealing with rape kits, prompting states to either test their backlog of kits or set forth new procedures for making sure they are tested in a timely manner
For example:
Missouri, which has a backlog of nearly 5,000 kits, enacted legislation that sets strict timetables for getting future kits to the lab to be tested.
Alaska this year appropriated nearly $3 million to have its more than 3,400 backlogged rape kits tested by private labs, though no deadline has been set.
Statute of Limitations
In some states, victims could not seek justice if they didn’t report the assault within a few years of the sex crime.
States have spent the past several years expanding statutes of limitation for sex crimes.
However, due to controversial nature of the bill, the expansion wasn't passed in some states.
State Sen. Maile Shimabukuro, a Democrat, has tried repeatedly to end the statute of limitations in Hawaii. She has succeeded in the past in getting legislators to agree to a two-year window that would lift the statute of limitations for civil suits for sex crimes. But a similar effort failed last year, and she wasn’t expecting any progress this year.
Politicians accused of sexual misconduct left the US Congress
During the #metoo movement, 9 members of the congress has left the US Congress due to sexual impropriety or workplace misconduct.
They either resigned or announced that they will not be re-electing, facing allegations
For example:
Rep. Ruben Kihuen announced that he will not be seeking re-election in mid-December 2017 after facing allegations of sexual harassment, including women that worked for his campaign.
Rep. Elizabeth Etsy announced that she would not be seeking re-election in April 2018 after news outlets revealed that she let her chief of staff stay in job for three months while knowing allegations of him threatening to kill a fellow staff
Senator Al Franken resigned early December after facing allegations for groping multiple women.
However, it is still ineffective in some ways...
At least 18 women had accused Donald Trump, the president of the US 2017-2021 of sexual harassment. However, Trump did not face any consequences facing the allegations but the women that made the accusations were faced with backlash.
Trump declined the accusations by saying that they were 'false accusations' or settled them with financial compensations
The women who made the accusations suddenly refused speak about the allegations over time