me too movement essay pdf

•   Home
• University Colleges
• SUNY College at New Paltz
• SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Campus Communities in SOAR

The #metoo movement: its strengths and weaknesses, and its potential psychological impact.

Average rating

Cast your vote you can rate an item by clicking the amount of stars they wish to award to this item. when enough users have cast their vote on this item, the average rating will also be shown. star rating, date published, collections.

The following license files are associated with this item:

• Creative Commons

entitlement

Show Statistical Information

Export search results

The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction

The origins of the movement

The role of investigative journalism, me too and changes in the law, criticism of the movement.

• How did Tarana Burke start the Me Too movement?
• Besides the Me Too movement, what are some of Tarana Burke’s accomplishments?

Me Too movement

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Verywell Mind - The #MeToo Movement: History, Sexual Assault Statistics, Impact
• University of Chicago Legal Forum - #MeToo as Catalyst: A Glimpse into 21st Century Activism
• Table Of Contents

Me Too movement , awareness movement around the issue of sexual harassment and sexual abuse of women in the workplace that grew to prominence in 2017 in response to news reports of sexual abuse by American film producer Harvey Weinstein . While the phrase had been in the lexicon for more than a decade, a tweet by American actress Alyssa Milano sparked a social media phenomenon that raised awareness, gave voice to survivors, and led to sweeping cultural and workplace changes.

The movement is credited with giving visibility to the scope of sexual violence within the United States and across the world. It is also defined by a push for accountability, including examining power structures in the workplace that had enabled misconduct, and, in some cases, renewed efforts to seek justice for survivors through criminal and civil court systems. In the first year of the movement, numerous prominent men lost their jobs after they were publicly accused of wrongdoing.

Since then, the Me Too movement’s legacy has broadened to encompass issues related to gender equity in the workplace and legal reforms to eliminate barriers that had prohibited victims from coming forward. Some U.S. states have since abolished statutes of limitations for reporting sexual crimes and banned nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) that aimed to keep misconduct allegations from the public’s view. The movement has also led to changes in the workplace and society at large through the implementation of greater safeguards and educational tools that aim to change behaviour in future generations.

While Milano’s tweet is largely recognized as the tipping point of the modern Me Too movement, it was not the origin of the phrase “me too” in the context of sexual abuse survivors. More than a decade earlier, community activist Tarana Burke coined the phrase through her nonprofit, Just Be Inc., in Selma , Alabama. Burke, who was sexually assaulted as a child, worked with young survivors and found that the phrase “me too” could help assure others that they were not alone in having experienced abuse. Because of her yearslong work prior to the viral hashtag, Burke is widely credited as the founder of the Me Too movement.

Within hours of Milano’s tweet on October 15, 2017, tens of thousands of people replied to her call for action. Within just 24 hours, Facebook reported more than 12 million reactions connected to #MeToo. In the following year, #MeToo was tweeted an average of 55,319 times a day. Burke initially felt “defeated” when watching the phrase go viral and deeply uncomfortable that the phrase could be co-opted by Hollywood and the masses. She feared no one would believe that a “44-year-old Black woman from the Bronx had already been doing this." Additionally, she worried that communities of colour could feel excluded from a movement that at first seemed centred on “white women in Hollywood.” But Burke said many of her fears faded after she realized that survivors were healing by having a chance to be heard. Milano quickly gave credit to Burke for the phrase, saying she was unaware of its history. The two women often appeared together in interviews and became public faces of the movement.

As the movement spread beyond the United States, new phrases demanding accountability popped up in other countries. In France , for instance, feminists used the hashtag #BalanceTonPorc (meaning “expose your pig”) to urge others to name the men who had sexually harassed them. The hashtag substantially differed from #MeToo, as it directed scrutiny toward the abusers rather than the victims.

In addition to social media activism, the early era of the Me Too movement was defined by investigative journalism that documented the searing accounts of women who had long endured sexual harassment. On October 5, 2017, The New York Times published an investigation by journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey that uncovered decades of predatory behaviour by producer Weinstein and revealed how he orchestrated numerous confidential settlements to silence his victims. Ashley Judd, a well-known American actress, told her account of how Weinstein had scheduled a business meeting within a hotel room but then made unwanted sexual advances toward her. “Women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it’s simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly,” she said.

Less than a week later, The New Yorker published journalist Ronan Farrow ’s exposé on Weinstein, and more women went on the record to give their accounts of sexual abuse. The New York Times and The New Yorker later shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their “explosive, impactful journalism that exposed powerful and wealthy sexual predators” and led to a “worldwide reckoning about sexual abuse of women.” Later, in New York and Los Angeles courts, Weinstein was charged and convicted of rape and sexual assault, resulting in 23-year and 16-year prison sentences, respectively. The combined sentences meant that he would almost certainly spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Following the Weinstein reporting, journalists from a wide array of news organizations began to publish investigations concerning sexual harassment and misconduct committed by prominent men in fields ranging from media and entertainment to politics and the culinary world. In other cases, survivors came forward independently through legal actions or by issuing public statements. By one count, more than 200 powerful men lost their jobs after public accusations of sexual misconduct were lodged against them in the first year of the Me Too movement.

The world of television journalism was especially rocked by Me Too allegations . Charlie Rose, a long-standing fixture of CBS and host of his namesake PBS show, lost his jobs in November 2017 after eight women came forward with allegations that he had sexually harassed them. Matt Lauer , a cohost of NBC’s morning talk show Today , was fired after a colleague filed a complaint concerning Lauer’s “inappropriate sexual behaviour in the workplace.” And while revelations concerning their behaviour predated the 2017 rise of the Me Too movement, Fox News chairman Roger Ailes and commentator Bill O’Reilly were ousted in 2016 and 2017, respectively, following widespread allegations of sexual harassment.

Other individuals who came under renewed scrutiny because of the Me Too movement represent the consequences of delayed justice. In 2015 the cover of New York magazine visualized the stunning number of allegations against comedian Bill Cosby by featuring photographs of 35 women who had accused Cosby of sexual assault. While Cosby’s first criminal trial in 2017 ended in a hung jury, his retrial in 2018 emerged as the first high-profile courtroom battle of the Me Too era. A jury convicted Cosby on three counts of aggravated indecent assault related to his drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand in 2004. The verdict was seen as a pivotal moment following Me Too, as it represented the rejection of the defense’s attempt to smear Constand’s credibility and a shift toward believing victims. A judge sentenced Cosby to serve 3 to 10 years in prison, but the verdict was later overturned on appeal, resulting in Cosby’s release.

In the case of R&B singer R. Kelly , investigative reporting from BuzzFeed in 2017 and the release of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary series in 2019 are credited with helping bring justice to his victims. The reporting reexamined past allegations of Kelly, who previously had been acquitted on charges of child pornography , and revealed new claims that he had fostered a cultlike environment and forced sex upon women and girls. Building on the social media activism of the Me Too era, the hashtag #MuteRKelly put pressure on radio stations and streaming platforms to stop playing his music. In 2019 Kelly was arrested and charged with crimes related to the sexual abuse of women and teenage girls. Kelly was later convicted in two separate federal trials on charges connected to sex trafficking and child pornography and sentenced to serve a combined 31 years in prison.

In another case of delayed justice, a lenient plea deal given to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein , a financier accused of sexually abusing underage girls, underwent new scrutiny following reporting from the Miami Herald . As a result, Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking. While in jail awaiting trial, he committed suicide.

The Me Too movement also reached the world of sports. The sex abuse case against former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar , which was first reported by the Indianapolis Star newspaper, revealed how law enforcement, USA Gymnastics officials, and Michigan State University officials brushed aside complaints from gymnasts about Nassar’s behaviour. In 2018 more than 150 of Nassar’s victims testified before his sentencing. Cameras were permitted within the courtroom, allowing the searing remarks from star Olympic gymnasts to reach a television audience and to make their way onto social media platforms.

As the Me Too movement grew, the focus largely shifted away from individual bad actors toward the broader systems in place that had enabled such misconduct to occur in plain sight. Lawmakers across the country proposed bills that attempted to knock down barriers that survivors faced in reporting abuse in the workplace and in criminal and civil court systems. Such bills often focused on sexual harassment training, eliminating arbitration-binding agreements that kept settlements quiet, and ending statutes of limitations that prohibited delayed reporting of sexual abuse.

New York state and New York City moved quickly to implement widespread post-Me Too reforms, focusing on laws that mandated sexual harassment training in the workplace. Gov. Andrew Cuomo , who signed the state’s bill into law, later resigned over allegations that he had sexually harassed members of his staff. In California the STAND (Stand Together Against Non-Disclosure) Act banned the use of nondisclosure clauses within sexual misconduct settlements.

In 2022 U.S. Pres. Joe Biden signed two pieces of federal legislation that trace their roots to the Me Too movement. The Speak Out Act limits the enforcement of NDAs that had stifled the ability of employees to speak publicly about sexual harassment or abuses within the workplace. Lawmakers said that such agreements had been widely required as conditions of employment and had been routinely used to cover up misconduct. Additionally, the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act allows victims of sexual abuse and harassment the opportunity to have their claims heard in court.

Support for the Me Too movement is not uniform. A U.S. poll conducted in 2022 at the five-year anniversary of the movement found that roughly half of Americans say they support it. The poll found that divisions largely fell along party lines, with Democrats being three times more likely than Republicans to say that they strongly or somewhat support the Me Too movement.

Critics have said that the Me Too movement urges a rush to judgment and thrives on so-called “cancel culture.” Burke has frequently countered such claims, saying, “ ‘Me too’ is not about taking down powerful men. It’s not about crime and punishment. It’s about pain and pain reduction.”

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Angry? #MeToo: An Epistemological Approach to Harnessing the Power of Female Rage

Up until the present day, anger - and women’s anger especially - has been valued mostly negatively. The focus of the literature on anger has consistently been placed on anger management rather than on the productive expression of anger. However, recently this has started to shift. In connection with the #MeToo movement, a (re)valuation of women’s anger has taken place in the popular media sphere, as evidenced by the publication of several books and articles arguing for the value of women’s anger to a popular audience (e.g. Traister, 2018; Chemaly, 2018; Cooper, 2018). Now, it is time to continue this shift towards valuing anger in the academic sphere. It is of vital importance to really understand the value that anger can have, especially for women, and to be aware of the potential that is going to waste by failing to recognise the productivity of the emotion. After having provided a background sketch of the current situation surrounding anger, this thesis utilises the theoretical framework of Miranda Fricker’s (2007) testimonial injustice to explain the common silencing of women’s anger. It further disproves some objections to anger and lists some advantages of expressing the emotion, to finally conclude with some considerations to be aware of when using anger. In the end, the conclusion is reached that anger can definitely be a valuable communication tool for women, and for feminist activists specifically. The framework of testimonial injustice shows that anger does have epistemic value, but that this value is not recognised and is instead silenced based on misguided stereotypes about the angry person. In learning to recognise the potential value of anger, knowers can aim to put a stop to their silencing or self-silencing of anger, and instead move towards a healthy anger expression. This thesis provides these insights in the context of female rage especially. Women’s anger is one of the more severely silenced and stigmatised categories of anger, so a valuation of it is strongly needed.

Related Papers

Feminist Media Studies

Jilly Boyce Kay

American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy

Miranda Pilipchuk

An open access version of full article can be found here: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.apaonline.org/resource/collection/D03EBDAB-82D7-4B28-B897-C050FDC1ACB4/FeminismV19n1.pdf This article analyzes the issue at the heart of the viral social media “Me Too” campaign (#MeToo) that began in the fall of 2017: disclosure. Survivor disclosure is a key defining feature of the campaign that distinguishes it from other anti-violence campaigns—including Tarana Burke’s original version of Me Too. Unlike previous anti-violence campaigns, #MeToo relies exclusively on survivor disclosure to educate the general public about issues of sexual violence. This article examines how #MeToo’s reliance on disclosure has led to moral dilemmas for survivors, and a moralization of survivorship itself. Section I outlines the central features of both versions of the Me Too movement—Burke’s original version and the viral #MeToo version—paying careful attention to how #MeToo has departed from Burke’s original movement. Section II focuses specifically on the issue of disclosure in #MeToo. I argue that the impetus to disclose has created a moral hierarchy of survivors, with survivors who publicly disclose being given greater moral standing than survivors who remain silent. Finally, in section III I recommend #MeToo realign itself with the priorities of Burke’s original Me Too movement, which is to provide resources for survivor healing—especially survivors from marginalized communities. Ultimately, I argue that in order to be truly inclusive of all survivors, #MeToo must expand beyond mere disclosure.

Taylor Rogers

This paper explores the affective dimension of resilient epistemological systems. Specifically, I argue that responsible epistemic practice requires affective engagement with non-dominant experiences. To begin, I outline Kristie Dotson's account of epistemological resilience whereby an epistemological system remains stable despite counter evidence or attempts to alter it. Then, I develop an account of affective numbness. As I argue, affective numbness can promote epistemological resilience in at least two ways. First, it can reinforce harmful stereotypes even after these stereotypes have been rationally demystified. To illustrate, I examine the stereotype of Black criminality as it relates to false confessions (Lackey 2018). Second, it can encourage "epistemic appropriation" (Davis 2018), which I demonstrate by examining the appropriation of 'intersectionality' and #MeToo by white culture. Finally, I conclude that resisting harmful resilience requires affective resistance, or efforts which target numbness via different kinds of affective engagement. I consider Kantian 'dis-interestedness' as a candidate.

Leigh Gilmore

This article argues that three frames of witness competed in the 2018 Kavanaugh hearings: the life story of Supreme Court nominee—now Justice—Brett Kavanaugh that was fashioned for the nomination process, the survivor testimony of Christine Blasey Ford that interrupted it, and the cultural frame of #MeToo in which her testimony and his repudiation of it were heard, which includes the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearing and the accompanying pattern of erasing Black women as they bear witness. With reference to Judith Butler's work on grievability, "Frames of Witness" identifies the potential affiliation of #MeToo discourse with other protest movements in order to underline how vulnerable subjects cross into testimonial spaces and find, or fail to find, a hearing.

Mich Ciurria

Laura Moisi

In this essay, I explore the political role of memory and trauma in online feminist protests. Specifically, I want to address how writing about experiences of sexual assault and private violence involves a critical engagement with the past, equipped with tools (words, concepts, ideas) from the present. Drawing on Sara Ahmed's understanding of feminism as an everyday experience, this paper discusses the following questions: What political role do trauma and memory play in feminist hashtags? And how are digital spaces involved in personal and collective reckonings with the past? Specifically, I want to ask how time and memory come up in #metoo, #whenIwas or #whyIstayed-movements that have created a collective archive of experiences of abuse, violence and sexual assault. The aim is to consider forms of affective resistance that challenge the notion of agency and liberation on the one hand, and pain and suffering on the other. In recent years, feminist hashtags have played a decisive role in addressing the ubiquity of sexual abuse and the silence that surrounds it in the lives of individuals, as well as in public discourse. In the fall of 2017, after the New York Times reported allegations of sexual assault against film producer Harvey Weinstein, over a million of social media users posted #metoo on twitter. This hashtag, coined by Tarana Burke in 2007 in the attempt to reach underprivileged girls dealing with sexual abuse and reactivated by actress Alyssa Milano ten years later, exposed the many ways in which survivor's voices are erased from social life. In the months to follow, survivors were writing about their experiences with sexual abuse in personal essays, blogs, books, plays, and poetry. The stories gathered under #metoo disclosed an archive of untold events and hidden histories. Critics, however, quickly called into question the political legitimacy of #metoo, claiming that the movement has gone "too far" (Stephens 2017) or that it perpetuates the representation of women as passive victims (Quillette Magazine 2017). Repeatedly, it was asked why victims did not speak out at the time when injuries were inflicted.

Cynthia A . Stark

This paper develops a notion of manipulative gaslighting, which is designed to capture something not captured by epistemic gaslighting, namely the intent to undermine women by denying their testimony about harms done to them by men. Manipulative gaslighting, I propose, consists in getting someone to doubt her testimony by challenging its credibility using two tactics: “sidestepping” (dodging evidence that supports her testimony) and “displacing” (attributing to her cognitive or characterological defects). I explain how manipulative gaslighting is distinct from (mere) reasonable disagreement, with which it is sometimes confused. I also argue for three further claims: that manipulative gaslighting is a method of enacting misogyny, that it is often a collective phenomenon, and, as collective, qualifies as a mode of psychological oppression.

SIGNS: Journal of Women and Culture in Society

Viveca Greene , Amber Day

Although the outpouring of discussion about sexual violence following the allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein caught many by surprise, the topic has been brewing as a cultural battleground for decades, particularly in the world of comedy. Today there are more high-profile female performers than ever before, bringing new perspectives to mainstream audiences and a heightened interest in exposing rape culture. Concurrently, rape culture has become a flash point for conservatives, leading to vitriolic online attacks. Just as rape jokes are constitutive of rape culture, we contend that satire that addresses dimensions of that culture is vital to challenging it. This article examines the works of Samantha Bee, Amy Schumer, and Lena Weissbrot: three satirists who are participating in the cultural battle over sexual violence. As we note, however, these three performers do not always evince an understanding of the centuries-old relationship between rape culture and racism. Through critical contextual analysis, we explore their work, with particular attention to lacunae within mainstream feminism.

Communication, Culture and Critique

Allison Page , Jacquelyn Arcy

Participants in the #MeToo movement on Twitter expressed emotions like rage, pain, and solidarity in their personal accounts of sexual violence. This article explores the digital circulation of these affects and considers how the outpouring of tweets about sexual harassment and abuse contribute to a feminist politics centered on collective healing. The particular emotions expressed in the #MeToo Twitter archive subvert the logics of quan-tification and visibility that undergird popular feminism and the attention economy, and produce an affective excess that works toward movement founder Tarana Burke's original project of "mass healing." At a moment wherein popular feminism emphasizes individual empowerment and consumption, and carceral feminism relies on criminalization and incarceration, the #MeToo movement's focus on shared emotions represents the potential for a feminist politics rooted in collective support and restorative justice.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Misogyny and Media in the Age of Trump (book)

Miglena Sternadori

International Journal of Communication

Jack Bratich

Berkeley Journal of Sociology

Franco Palazzi

Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research

Matthew S Johnston

Acotaciones

Ana Abad Carlés

Dewey Studies

Jennifer L Hansen

Lenart Škof , Magdalena Górska

Nelson Ribeiro , Dr. Jennifer R Henrichsen

Nora Berenstain

#MeToo and the Politics of Social Change

Jessica Ringrose

Signs: Journal of Women and Culture

Ratna Kapur

Hannah Strong

Andrea Carson

Bonnie Mann

WOMEN’S STUDIES IN COMMUNICATION

Rosalind Gill , Shani Orgad

Rhetoric Review

Stephanie Larson

Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies

Elizabeth (Betsy) Brunner , Sarah Partlow-Lefèvre

Cafe Dissensus Blog

Brinda Bose

Michael Salter

Ephemera. Theory & Politics in Organization

Sara Morais dos Santos Bruss

Rosemary Clark-Parsons

Southern Journal of Philosophy

Shiloh Whitney

APA Newsletter on Feminism

Sarah Clark Miller

Polish Journal of English Studies

Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity

Refiloe Makama , Neziswa Titi

Journal of International Women’s Studies

Panchali Ray

Feminist Philosophy Quarterly

Debra L Jackson

New Male Studies - International

Oxfam Research Backgrounder

Ada: A journal of gender, new media, & technology

Sarah J. Jackson

Praktyka Teoretyczna

Julia Kubisa

FEMINIST MOVEMENTS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Praktyka Teoretyczna , Julia Kubisa , Jennifer Ramme , Claudia Snochowska-Gonzalez , Magdalena Muszel , Justyna Struzik , Radosław Nawojski

University of Miami Law Review

Aníbal Rosario Lebrón

Women and Popular Culture in Canada, editor Laine Zisman Newman

Dilyana Mincheva

Michael R Barnes

Journalism, Gender and Power

Rosalind Gill , Katie Toms

Summer Renault-Steele

Online Othering: Exploring Digital Violence and Discrimination on the Web

Karen Lumsden

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Sexual Harassment — Critical Analysis Of Me Too Movement

Critical Analysis of Me Too Movement

• Categories: Sexual Harassment Social Justice Women's Rights

About this sample

Words: 1001 |

Published: Apr 2, 2020

Words: 1001 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

• Expert in: Law, Crime & Punishment Sociology Social Issues

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 501 words

1 pages / 535 words

3 pages / 1232 words

2 pages / 972 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Sexual Harassment

The purpose of this essay is to address the pressing question: "why is SHARP increasing in the army?". We will delve into the factors leading to the rise in SHARP (Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention) instances [...]

SHARP is a program that helps prevent incidents of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The mission of every soldier in the Army is to ensure that everyone respects everyone at all times under any circumstances. SHARP is also a [...]

There is a point in questioning when the officer asks questions about whether there are drugs or alcohol involved. It almost always boils down to what the victim said, wore, or what their body language was like at the time of [...]

Street harassment is an unfortunate reality that plagues societies worldwide, leaving individuals vulnerable and disempowered in public spaces. The street harassment encapsulates a distressing phenomenon that affects people of [...]

In a world where romance is often portrayed as grand gestures and sweeping declarations of love, there exists a darker side to these displays of affection - romantic harassment. This insidious form of harassment is often [...]

The case below is of a judge (Patricia Doninger) who allowed her court marshals to degrade and sexually abuse a lady who was attending court hearings about her divorce case. After an investigation on the August 12 incident where [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Advertisement

Supported by

Critic’s Notebook

#MeToo Is All Too Real. But to Better Understand It, Turn to Fiction.

• Share full article

By Parul Sehgal

• May 1, 2019

In “The Friend,” Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 National Book Award-winning novel, the narrator, a writing teacher, grumbles about her students’ personal essays on sexual violence. Always the same nouns, she complains to us ( scar , bruise , blood ), always the same verbs ( choke , starve , scream ). The dull, depressing sameness of these stories. Their horrifying number.

She has no way of knowing that she stars in a book that is part of a wave of its own: “#MeToo novels,” they’re called, these disparate stories of sex and power suddenly regarded as timely, and read through the lens of an unfolding movement — with happy results, I’m about to argue (irritating Nunez’s teacher, I imagine, and rather surprising myself).

It does not feel reductive to read fiction through this prism, nor will you find the numbing sameness Nunez’s narrator deplores — in fact, these books deliver us from numbing sameness. They are remarkably various, and they trouble debates that traffic in certainties. They come laden with confusion, doubt, subtlety — is it excessively earnest to call it truth ?

The original “Me too movement,” was created by the civil rights activist Tarana Burke in 2006, out of her work with young women of color who had experienced sexual abuse. Since the sexual-assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein broke in 2017, the term has been adopted as a rallying cry for survivors of all kinds of gendered violence. The “#MeToo novel” shares this range; it has been applied to everything from Lisa Halliday’s “Asymmetry,” with its gentle May-December romance, to Édouard Louis’s autobiographical novel “History of Violence,” which recounts a rape and attempted murder.

There is Anna Burns’s “Milkman,” set during The Troubles and awarded the 2018 Man Booker Prize (“I hope this novel will help people think about #MeToo,” the judges’ chairman said). See also Pat Barker’s “The Silence of the Girls” (called “an ‘Iliad’ for the age of #MeToo” in a review in this newspaper ), Miriam Toews’s “Women Talking” (a “Mennonite #MeToo novel”) and Idra Novey’s “Those Who Knew” (“the definitive #MeToo novel,” according to Entertainment Weekly). Reissues, like “The Street,” a 1946 novel by Ann Petry, are included in the category, as well as a rare #MeToo novel by a man, James Lasdun’s “Afternoon of a Faun.”

Recent feminist dystopias imagine the further erosion of reproductive rights (Bina Shah’s “Before She Sleeps,” Maggie Shen King’s “An Excess Male,” Sophie Mackintosh’s “The Water Cure,” Leni Zumas’s “Red Clocks”). Several books feature charismatic, predatory teachers, including Nunez’s “The Friend,” Susan Choi’s “Trust Exercise” and Kate Walbert’s “His Favorites.” There are revenge fantasies (Naomi Alderman’s “The Power”), romance and young adult novels that grapple with consent — even a #MeToo western .

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .