#metoo: to what extent will the Movement end violence against women?
Author: Keishunda Curtis
Black Atlantic, Matriarchy | March 11, 2021
The #MeToo Movement is widely recognised across the globe as a stance against male dominance, control and abuse against women. It has gained the attention of many Hollywood stars and has most notably seen actors, producers and politicians publicly shamed and convicted in some cases, for their role in abusing women. It’s presence on Twitter and Facebook has seen over 500,000 million people use the #MeToo hashtag through Twitter and Facebook to show their support for the cause and the women who have been wronged (Bowne-Anderson, 2017).
Even though the #MeToo Movement has arguably led to legal convictions and gained global attention, the extent to which it has it impacted the underlying social issue of violence against women is contended. Violence against women is a systemic problem in our culture and although #MeToo has had widespread recognition, is this due to the ‘Hollywood effect’ or because actual change is being made to address the issues? Considering technology has a shelf-life, could this too affect the impact of the Movement whose greatest reach is on social media?
Women and Violence
The mistreatment and abuse of women is not a recent phenomenon and can be traced as far back as 20,000BC when societies who were once believed to follow principles of matriarchy were overturned and the rights of women repressed and destroyed by systems in favour of patriarchy and male dominance (Stone, 1976).
Bell Hooks (2000), a black feminist writer argues that women have played an active role in maintaining the social dynamic we are currently faced with. She suggests that the status quo is maintained by men and women and in order for us to get to the crux of the issue, a deeper analysis of men and women’s relationship towards violence needs to be explored. Women equate love with violence and this is how they “actively maintain the value system of society which proclaims violence and dominance the most effective tools of interaction in human interaction- a value system that advocates and makes war” (Hooks, 2000).
The #MeToo Movement is strongly linked to the recent conviction of Larry Nassar, the Olympic Team USA medic who systematically abused young girls and boys for decades under the guise of medical practice. What was pertinent about this case was the fact that the survivors did not readily associate the abuse with violence. It was revealed in the testimonies of the survivors that the abuse within the system had become almost normal and tolerated especially by those in authoritative positions. This ‘culture’ of abuse supports the views by Hooks (2000) that society is accustomed to associating violence from men with love on some levels. And in the cases of the Olympic athletes, it is clear that abuse became synonymous with success and winning in the sport of gymnastics (Freeman, 2018).
The Hollywood Effect
A distinction has been made between the Movement on social media and the actual Movement on a grassroots level. In an article written by the political news website PRI (2018), it was highlighted that celebrities promoting the movement received more mentions in the press than the actual founders of the Movement. It was concluded that “Hollywood celebrities and politicians are the focus of #MeToo media coverage” (Chou, 2018) rather than the women doing the actual work at ground level. During the 2018 Golden Globes, eight Hollywood actresses took #MeToo activists to the ceremony as dates. It was noted that the celebrities received far more media coverage than their respective dates. There was one exception- Tarana Burke, who is the original founder of the #MeToo Movement. However, they also noted that Alyssa Milano, one of the first Hollywood actresses to tweet #MeToo, has received far more global attention than Tarana Burke with Milano often being mistaken as the founder of the Movement. Also mentioned, is the amount of global media attention the men accused of sexual abuse have received compared to that of the women they have allegedly abused. Even though the phenomena is supported ‘globally’, “US commentators get the most media coverage” (Chou, 2018). This supports the notion that the Movement has become more of a Hollywood spectacle rather than a vehicle for actual change.
Disruptive Technologies
The #MeToo Movement’s driving force is arguable social media which runs the high risk of being forgotten in time like most other social media trends. In the absence of legislation that aims to make the actions of the activists memorialised into the law books, it is possible, especially in a male dominated society, that the hype of the Movement will die down and soon be forgotten. Scarcity theorists would argue that technology is purposely designed to be temporal and meant to have an expiry date as this creates a desire something new. This “design obsolescence” is “a symptom of the market’s need to constantly design more scarcities as an engine for more consumption” (Goodbun et al, 2014). We have seen the “design obsolescence” in the past decade with the evolution of social platforms. For example, it was not long before online platforms such as Myspace gave way to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. “Design increases the fetish nature of commodity and with it the associated desire” (Goodbun et al, 2014). The consumer is always hungry, so it is inevitable that popular social media vehicles will be replaced by something new. One must consider how this will potentially impact social media movements. Is it possible that once the demand for interest on the subject has quelled it will be replaced by another ‘more important’ social issue? And what will this mean for the popular #MeToo hashtag if it too is not compatible with the latest online social platforms?
For example, there were many civil rights leaders in America during the 1960s and 1970s. However, only a handful of names are remembered 50 years later. And the most recognised activist is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose name, and the principles he stood for, are immortalised as a federal holiday in the United States. Would the #MeToo hashtag alone be enough to ensure its legacy? Or does it need the additional support from legislators to ensure its survival?
Conclusions
In the absence of legacy building initiatives such as legally enacted commemorative days, movements such as #MeToo run the risk of being lost in time. Technology is an ever-evolving vehicle of communication that is appreciated for its temporal nature in many instances- the old makes way for newer, faster, more efficient technology. Though #MeToo is currently widely recognised amongst a particular demographic and its activists work tirelessly to promote issues relating to women and violence, there are still limitations. More needs to be done to change to culture of violence against women and this can only be achieved through continued dialogue that may take decades, even centuries to resolve- a timeline that is not compatible with the design of technology or the nature of Hollywood.
Resources
Books, B. (2000) Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. 2nd edn. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
Browne-Anderson, Hugo (2017) How the #MeToo Movement Spread on Twitter: What can Data science tell us about tweets with the #MeToo hashtags? Available at: https://www.datacamp.com/community/blog/metoo-twitter-analysis(Accessed: July 2018)
Chou, Sophie (2018) Millions say MeToo. But not everyone is heard equally. Available at: https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-01-23/millions-say-metoo-not-everyone-heard-equally (Accessed: July 2018)
Freeman, Hadley (2018) How was Larry Nasar able to abuse so many gymnasts for so long? Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/26/larry-nassar-abuse-gymnasts-scandal-culture (Accessed: August 2018)
Goodbun, J., Klein, M., Rumpfhuber, A., Till, J., (2014) The Design of Scarcity. Strelka Press.
Stone, M. (1976) When God Was a Woman. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.