#MeToo, Networked Acknowledgment, and Connective Action: How “Empowerment Through Empathy” Launched a Social Movement

Abstract

How did efforts that prompted the sharing of personal experiences of sexual violence and harassment around #MeToo coalesce into calls for action across a range of institutions and communities? We argue that sharing experiences of trauma in digital spaces created a network of acknowledgment, which supported and sustained nascent #MeToo activism based on the logic of connective action. This article attempts to (a) understand the temporal dynamics of these different discourses within the #MeToo movement on Twitter, (b) reveal the accounts animating these discourses and the most prominent themes within them, and (c) model the overtime relationship between these discourses and their relationship to major news event and #MeToo revelations. To do so, we analyze a 1% sample of tweets from the 5-month period following the revelations about Harvey Weinstein in early October 2017, employing a range of computational approaches, including part-of-speech tagging, dependency analysis, hashtags extraction, and retweet network analysis—to identify key discourses, actors, and themes. We then conduct time series analysis to identify the relationship between the two discourses and predict how the ebbs and flows of each discourse are shaped by news events.

“I Would Have Taken This to My Grave, Like Most Women”: Reporting Sexual Harassment during the #MeToo movement in India

“…Second, the present findings show how personally experienced harms and mistreatment, such as sexual harassment, relate to the broader societal structures or events, such as the #MeToo movement or culture. Researchers have emphasized the networked aspects of social movements for the solidarity and hope they give to those targeted and suffering (Castells, 2015; Suk et al., 2019). In interactions, however, these possibilities can take different forms.…”

Gender and Online Politics: Digital Media as Friend and Foe in Times of Change

“…Núñez Puente, D’Antonio Maceiras, and Fernández Romer ( in press ) illustrate that while Spain’s laws on sexual violence frame women as victims, Twitter discourse related to #8M and #NiUnaMenos does not emphasize victimhood as much as it promotes solidarity and unity. Suk et al ( in press ) find that the Twitter posts reflected key events covered in major news outlets. Calls to action became more popular when the perpetrator was a politician.…”

“…This special issue aims to describe the gendered experiences of online politics and understand its potential impact. This volume includes examples of digital media being used as a tool for creating communities of support related to sexual violence (Núñez Puente, D’Antonio Maceiras, & Fernández Romer, in press ; Suk et al, in press ) as well as a tool for feminism, more generally (Heger & Hoffmann, in press ). However, this volume also includes examples of digital media being used as a tool to silence women through uncivil comments and harassment related to one’s gender (Nadim & Fladmoe, in press ; Southern & Harmer, in press ).…”

“…Despite the challenges of using digital media for social change, women are using digital media for activism, particularly feminist-identifying women in Germany (Heger & Hoffman, in press ) as well as the communities attached to #metoo discourses (Núñez Puente et al, in press ; Suk et al, in press ). Wagner, Gainous, and Abbott ( in press ) also highlight the #FreeTheFive and #WoYeShi movements in China, which provide important context for understanding how gender influences the relationship between critical digital engagement and support for protest.…”

“…These studies reveal how digital media can be a tool for social change. The studies reflect the use of Twitter to give testimony to sexual assault as well as create communities supporting unity and solidarity in the fight for social change (Núñez Puente et al, in press ; Suk et al, in press ). Núñez Puente, D’Antonio Maceiras, and Fernández Romer ( in press ) illustrate that while Spain’s laws on sexual violence frame women as victims, Twitter discourse related to #8M and #NiUnaMenos does not emphasize victimhood as much as it promotes solidarity and unity.…”