Disclosing #MeToo in 2022

Abstract

<p>In 2017, the #MeToo movement went viral on social media (Bogen et al., 2021). Survivors of sexual assault and harassment shared their experiences on Twitter using the hashtag #MeToo (Nutbeam & Mereish, 2021) to raise awareness of the frequency of sexual assault and harassment and inspired calls for social change (Bogen et al., 2021). Since the movement's height, there has been considerable scholarly engagement with #MeToo (Quan-Haase et al., 2021), including research on the use of the hashtag for sexual assault disclosures and the ‘social reactions’ to those disclosures (Bogen et al., 2019; Bogen et al., 2021; Lindgren, 2019; Schneider & Carpenter, 2020). Social reactions refer to how people respond to a survivor’s disclosure of sexual victimization, including positive responses such as emotional support or offering resources and negative responses like victim-blaming (Ullman, 2000). Informed by Bogen et al. (2021) and Schneider and Carpenter’s (2020) studies on social reactions to #MeToo, this qualitative pilot study aimed to capture current themes in the social reactions to #MeToo sexual assault disclosures, as well as how those reactions may have changed over time. The pilot study applied small-scale, primary data qualitative content analysis to replies (<em>N </em>= 268) to #MeToo disclosure tweets (<em>N </em>= 19) that were published between late 2021 and mid-2022. The replies were coded for social reaction themes and subthemes based on the two aforementioned social reaction studies, which analyzed tweets using the hashtag #MeToo related to issues of sexual assault and harassment, the movement more broadly, and reactions to specific disclosures. While earlier studies found primarily positive social reactions to the #MeToo hashtag (Bogen et al., 2019; Bogen et al., 2021; Lindgren, 2019; Schneider & Carpenter, 2020), the potential for negative and largely anonymous reactions such as trolling remained a concern (Schneider & Carpenter, 2020). The tangible impacts of social reactions on survivors of sexual assault are known, with negative responses influencing worse outcomes following an assault (Ullman, 2000). Far less is known about the impacts of online disclosure and its unique risk factors for harming survivors who disclose and survivors who witness the responses (Bogen et al., 2019; Bogen et al., 2021; Schneider & Carpenter, 2020). The current study showed the importance of ongoing analysis of social reactions to disclosures of sexual victimization, specifically surrounding online social media platforms such as Twitter. This pilot study strove to centre the voices and experiences of survivors of sexual victimization (Gill, 2018) to identify current social reactions to #MeToo disclosure tweets. The current research could inform future efforts that will be needed to improve online responses and promote more positive outcomes to empower survivors of sexual assault (Sherman et al., 2019). </p>