Since the inception of the viral #MeToo Movement in 2017, news coverage of sexual assault incidents and related public discourse have become much more prevalent on social media platforms. While this hashtag activism has prompted important social discourse, little is known about how exposure to this type of trauma-related content affects survivors of sexual violence navigating these online spaces. To explore this phenomenon, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with young adult women survivors of sexual assault who regularly use social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter). Participants were asked to reflect on sexual assault–related content (i.e., news stories and related public discourse) which they have observed on social media platforms. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data found survivors described (1) negative changes to their mental health and relationships in the face of these exposures, (2) certain types of content (e.g., rape culture narratives) which were particularly distressing to them, (3) how they coped with distress tied to this exposure, and (4) recommendations for clinicians on how to help survivors navigate social media in a healthier way. The present study is a first step toward understanding the impact of online social movements on trauma survivors and provides concrete clinical recommendations for therapists working with sexual assault survivors in this unique post-#MeToo context.

Institutional betrayal has been used to describe the experiences of sexual assault survivors who are harmed by institutions which they rely on for safety or survival. This concept has primarily been studied in the context of survivors’ direct relationships with institutions they are members of (e.g., universities, churches, military) and how the said institutions either failed to protect them or were unsupportive following their disclosure. Institutional betrayal can exacerbate negative mental and physical health outcomes for survivors, highlighting a need to hold institutions accountable for harm they cause. A limitation to this conceptualization is that many adults in the general public are not proximally connected to institutions (as they have historically been defined), and the majority of survivors do not formally report. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with young women survivors ( n = 12), the present study aims to address this gap by abstracting the conceptualization to a more macro level, proposing the term secondary institutional betrayal. Secondary institutional betrayal refers to survivors’ feelings of mistrust and disillusionment toward institutions they are distally connected to which are not directly involved in their own assault (e.g., the media, U.S. government, U.S. criminal legal system, their university), yet still have influence over their personal safety and survival. This sense of betrayal stems from secondhand observations, through the news media, of how other survivors are treated by these institutions. Many survivors in the present study reported their secondhand observations of institutional betrayal would likely deter them from reporting future assaults. Establishing research in this area is important to understand how survivors in the general public are impacted by news stories which highlight institutional betrayal, particularly in the context of ongoing social movements (e.g., #MeToo) which amplify public discourse about sexual assault.