Читать книгу Gender and Social Movements - Jo Reger - Страница 7

A 2017 MeToo rally in Los Angeles, CA.

Credit: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Imagine you check your social media one morning and the hashtag #MeToo is everywhere. People you know, most of them women, are sharing stories of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault. Along with the personal posts, you see multiple news stories of prominent men in politics, business, entertainment, and the media being accused of sexual harassment and impropriety (of all degrees). The narrative in each case is similar. A man (rarely a woman) in a position of power, repeatedly used that power over a subordinate regardless of her objections. Most of these men had been engaging in these behaviors for years, some of them decades. As you watch the news coverage, it seems that as quickly as the accusations come to light, the accused is punished, losing their job and access to resources, privilege, and status. The mainstream media is full of reports, and pundits are perplexed as to the source of this tsunami of accusations. You begin to think over your own life and have a few “aha” moments of your own – A boss who stood too close; A teacher who made inappropriate comments; A romantic partner who would not listen to “no.”

Emerging in 2017, the importance of #MeToo was captured later that year when Time Magazine named the Person of the Year – “The Silence Breakers” – acknowledging the number of women who had come forward claiming they too were victims of harassment and sexual assault by powerful, cisgendered men. The beginnings of hashtag movement can be traced back to the multitude of women who accused media mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, assault, and rape (Johnson and Hawbaker 2019; NPR 2018). Quickly following these accusations against Weinstein, the names of prominent men (and a few women) accused of behaviors ranging from sexual harassment to rape began to snowball. The list included powerful men in politics (U.S. Senator Al Franken, U.S. Senate nominee Roy Moore), entertainment (comedians Bill Cosby and Louis C. K., actor Kevin Spacey, R&B artist R. Kelly), and business (Uber CEO Travis Kalanak). Charges of sexual assault, harassment, and rape against President Donald Trump, along with his infamous statement about grabbing women by the “pussy,” also added to the moment.

#MeToo was not confined to the United States. It quickly spread with charges against prominent men across the globe in countries including South Korea, Sweden, and Egypt, all experiencing “landmark” victories for the accusers (Stone and Vogelstein 2019). Initially the hashtag was attributed to white actor Alyssa Milano; however it was later credited to long-time sexual assault activist Tarana Burke, who coined the term “Me Too” in 2006. Reflecting on #MeToo, it is clear that this wave of accusations challenged beliefs about gendered interpersonal relations, forced a redefinition of sexual consent, and illustrated how power cannot always win the silence of victims.

For as much as #MeToo tells us about the society we live in, it is also a productive place to begin an examination of gender and social movements. First, it allows us to see how social change occurs and how social movements play a role in those changes. Second, it highlights how issues of gender can be at the core of social change efforts. Third, taking a historical view of #MeToo illustrates that what appears to be a contemporary issue has its roots in the past. Finally, the mis-crediting of the hashtag to a white actor instead of the Black woman activist who created it demonstrates the importance of looking at gender issues through the lens of race and other social identities. Using the #MeToo movement as a starting place, this book explores the intersections and interactions of gender and social movements. To untangle these dynamics, I examine how gender influences social change by exploring how it shapes participants, social change goals, and the means (i.e. tactics and strategies) by which change is sought. In other words, the who, how, and why of social change is shaped by gender, even when it is not obvious to observers and participants. To understand these dynamics, I start by defining the ways in which we understand gender.