Abstract
This chapter examines how definitions of sexual violence are contested and potentially disrupted through feminist activist movements such as #MeToo. Drawing on key case studies from #MeToo, we examine how the boundaries of what constitutes sexual violence are destabilized. Debates emerging from #MeToo represent a power struggle over who is able to name and define what sexual violence is and whose experiences ‘count’. The movement provides a moment of rupture in which definitions of sexual violence are simultaneously opened up and pulled back toward more conservative understandings. This chapter critiques claims that the movement has gone ‘too far’, instead arguing the need to further open up the parameters of sexual violence in a way that centers victim-survivors’ experiences, resists bounded, hierarchical definitions, and recognizes mundane and ‘extreme’ experiences as interconnected. In short, it argues that rather than having gone ‘too far’, the #MeToo movement is yet to go far enough.
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Notes
- 1.
In a search of newspaper commentary and editorials from October 2017 to June 2018, much of the commentary reinforced activists’ concerns while about 26% of the commentaries were critical of the movement. In this limited sample, #MeToo was used as a framework for discussing a variety of issues including the difficulty of filing workplace harassment claims, forced arbitration, and the persistent gender pay gap. The discussions extended to the plight of low-wage workers and exposed entrenched systems of enablers in a variety of industries including religious and political institutions. The issue was discussed as both a domestic problem and a global problem implicating human rights violations.
- 2.
McCarthyism refers to the campaign in the 1950s led by US Senator Joseph McCarthy who, without evidence, falsely accused individuals of being communist and infiltrating the government. His fear-mongering campaign led to blacklists and job losses.
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Fileborn, B., Phillips, N. (2019). From ‘Me Too’ to ‘Too Far’? Contesting the Boundaries of Sexual Violence in Contemporary Activism. In: Fileborn, B., Loney-Howes, R. (eds) #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15213-0_7
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