Abstract
The #MeToo movement has had a profound cultural impact on US society, and notably on US party politics. While many studies have addressed the #MeToo-related controversy arising from the Brett Kavanaugh nomination to Supreme Court Justice in 2018, the relationship between #MeToo and US politics before this event has remained understudied. This article, therefore, addresses this gap by looking at the role of politics at the beginning of the #MeToo movement. Focusing on the first six months of online activity on Twitter (October 2017 – April 2018), over 2 million tweets with the #MeToo hashtag are analyzed to identify the main activity patterns across the dataset and to gain insight on user behavior and participation in the conversation. Results point to the weaponization of #MeToo in the political context from its inception. It is suggested that #MeToo reflects the polarized political climate in the US and that it can be conceptualized as part of the wider “culture wars” (Hunter 1991) that characterize the public debate.
Highlights
#MeToo emerged in 2017 as a movement to combat sexual violence, and the hashtag quickly gained immense popularity on social media
It is suggested that #MeToo reflects the polarized political climate in the US and that it can be conceptualized as part of the wider ―culture wars‖ (Hunter 1991) that characterize the public debate
Through the analysis of over 2 million tweets with the #MeToo hashtag, this study aims to explore how the political weaponization of #MeToo appeared in the public debate long before the Kavanaugh case emerged in summer 2018
Summary
#MeToo emerged in 2017 as a movement to combat sexual violence, and the hashtag quickly gained immense popularity on social media. Psychology professor Dr Christine Blasey-Ford publicly accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party when they were in high school, leading to a heated debate in the public sphere. This #MeToo-related controversy is perhaps the most revealing example of a central tension in US politics. The popularity of the #MeToo movement is part of a wider revival of feminist politics and anti-sexual violence activism. In response to the content of the tape, thousands of women began using the hashtag #NotOkay to share narratives of sexual assault and to proclaim that Trump‘s comments should not be minimized (Maas et al 2018)
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