The Voices of #MeToo

From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar

Carly Gieseler

The Voices of #MeToo: From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar is a timely analysis of how marginalized voices are engaged or silenced in one of the most successful social media projects in recent history. Accessibly written, this book unravels the ideas and practices of activism throughout the #MeToo movement from its inception to its current viral moment.

The movement went viral with a tweet from Alyssa Milano after the avalanche of sexual harassment and assault allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag, however, got its start from African-American, grassroots activist Tarana Burke a decade earlier. Taking this as her starting place, Gieseler focuses on the marginalized communities that are often ignored once a movement goes mainstream. With chapters on black female activism, the LGBTQ+ community and disability, toxic masculinity, and international responses, The Voices of #MeToo issues a call for all movements to become more inclusive as they seek empowerment and resistance against oppressive and abusive forces. Perhaps in exploring issues of social justice through an intersectional lens, we may all begin to hear and amplify the voices that are often silenced in the louder, viral roar.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 184 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-5381-2800-8 • Hardback • July 2019 • $67.00 • (£52.00)

978-1-5381-2801-5 • Paperback • July 2019 • $34.00 • (£25.00)

978-1-5381-2802-2 • eBook • July 2019 • $32.00 • (£25.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Social Movements, Social Science / Social Change

The Voices of #MeToo

From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

The Voices of #MeToo: From Grassroots Activism to a Viral Roar is a timely analysis of how marginalized voices are engaged or silenced in one of the most successful social media projects in recent history. Accessibly written, this book unravels the ideas and practices of activism throughout the #MeToo movement from its inception to its current viral moment.

The movement went viral with a tweet from Alyssa Milano after the avalanche of sexual harassment and assault allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag, however, got its start from African-American, grassroots activist Tarana Burke a decade earlier. Taking this as her starting place, Gieseler focuses on the marginalized communities that are often ignored once a movement goes mainstream. With chapters on black female activism, the LGBTQ+ community and disability, toxic masculinity, and international responses, The Voices of #MeToo issues a call for all movements to become more inclusive as they seek empowerment and resistance against oppressive and abusive forces. Perhaps in exploring issues of social justice through an intersectional lens, we may all begin to hear and amplify the voices that are often silenced in the louder, viral roar.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 184 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-5381-2800-8 • Hardback • July 2019 • $67.00 • (£52.00)

978-1-5381-2801-5 • Paperback • July 2019 • $34.00 • (£25.00)

978-1-5381-2802-2 • eBook • July 2019 • $32.00 • (£25.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Social Science / Women's Studies, Social Science / Social Movements, Social Science / Social Change

Author

Carly Gieseler is Associate Professor of Speech Communication in the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at York College – City University of New York. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of South Florida. Her work focuses on intersectional issues of performance, identity and representation in emerging trends, activist movements, and marginalized communities across our changing media and communication landscape.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter One: “The Silence Breakers”: The Social Media Activism of #MeToo

I. The Voices of #MeToo

1. Challenges of Change

2. Meeting the Challenge

3. A History of Collective Action

4. Social Media and #Intersectionality

II. Intersectional Approaches

1. Mapping the Margins

2. Not a Moment, But a Movement

Chapter Two: “When Movie Stars don’t Know Where to Go, What Hope is There for the Rest of Us?” The Public and Private Faces of #MeToo

I. The Celebrity Machine

1. Critical Mass

a. Consumerism

b. Reductionism

2. Social Media is the Message

3. Performing Activism

4. Agents of Change

Chapter Three: “Sisters Still Managed to Get Diminished or Erased”: Tarana Burke’s Grassroots Goal and the Implications of #MeToo for Women of Color

1. Intersectional Interventions

I. The Activism of Everyday Survival

1. Cultural Guardians: Black Female Activists

2. A Legacy of Silenced Voices

3. Pipelines of Abuse

4. WOC Online

II. Recuperating the 99%

Chapter Four: “Most of Us Were Never Taught the Language with Which to Understand the Experiences of our Youth”: The Double-Bind of Silenced Sexual Victimization in the LGBTQ+ Community

1. Statistics and Silence

2. Multifaceted Oppression

a. Fetishization

b. Bisexuality

c. Trans Community

d. LGBTQ+ Youth

3. Internalization

4. Binaried Language

5. #MeQueer

I. A Worthy Goal

1. Prism of Reckoning

Chapter Five: “The Fastest Way to Discredit Any Women’s Rights Struggle is to Say it Comes from Somewhere Else”: Global Responses to #MeToo

I. MeToo Rising Worldwide

1. Collective Understanding

2. Statistical Context

3. Global Responses

a. Australia

b. Brazil

c. China

d. Denmark

e. England

f. France

g. Kenya

h. India

i. Ireland

j. Japan

k. Philippines

l. Russia

m. South Korea

n. Spain

o. Sweden

II. The Shared Language of Change

Chapter Six: “Disability is the One Minority Group We Can All Join”: The Omission of People with Disabilities from #MeToo

I. Sexual Citizenship

1. A Personhood up for Grabs

2. Educational Justice

II. Blank Boxes and Intersectionality

Chapter Seven: “Perhaps all the Moment Requires is for Men to Shut Up and Listen”: Toxic Masculinity and Male Responses to #MeToo

I. Hegemonic Backlash

1. The Toxic Locker Room

2. Networked Misogyny

3. From Bystanders to Upstanders

4. The Hazards of Conformity

II. #WeDo Believe Male Survivors

III. Fragile Strength

1. The Wake-Up Call

Final Thoughts