Academic research reveals stark disparities in whose voices were amplified during the viral #MeToo moment.
90.7% of viral #MeToo disclosures came from white women, despite representing only 60.7% of the US population.
Only 2.6% of viral disclosures came from Black women, despite representing 13.4% of the US population.
80% of bisexual women experience sexual violence vs. 44% of heterosexual women, yet remain underrepresented.
Research Finding: "The specific voices represented in newspaper reporting continues to reflect the perspectives of white, heterosexual women."
Study Scope: Analysis of 70 newspaper articles from regional, rural, and remote Australia (2017-2020).
Despite: Progressive approaches to documenting how the #MeToo movement impacted some communities, representation gaps persist.
Research Finding: "These dialogues in Australia have proceeded on somewhat separate terrains, with relatively few student activists taking up the #MeToo banner."
Pre-existing Movement: Long before #MeToo went viral, feminist activists on university campuses highlighted sexual violence prevalence in their communities.
Context: #MeToo hashtag drew focus to sexual harassment in Australia in 2017, following its widespread reach in the United States.
Australian Music Industry: More than 400 women working in the Australian music industry spoke out through the #MeNoMore campaign in December 2017.
Trigger: Allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein led to the revitalized #MeToo movement of October 2017.
Industry Context: Despite having a reputation for sexual violence, the local music press played a minor role in hashtag development.
Institutional Exceptionalism: Problems constituted as "rare features of particular institutions, not commonly replicated."
Systemic vs. Individual: Some accounts materialize #MeToo problems as the product of mutually reinforcing institutional dynamics.
Media-Law Nexus: The mutually reinforcing role of institutions such as media and law was central to producing problems like sexual assault.
Legal Institution Analysis: #MeToo movement is largely a public, extra-legal response to liberal law inadequacies in responding to sexual violence.
Critical Gap: "More needs to be done within #MeToo to interrogate these concepts and to decolonise #MeToo."
Australian Context: Australian liberal institutions and recent historical processes need interpretation through decolonial praxis of #MeToo.
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