Me Too Movement

Women Empowerment in the Age of the #MeToo Movement
When the #MeToo Movement arrived following accusations made against Hollywood Mogul Harvey Weinstein, an avalanche of accusations fell down upon the heads of male celebrities, CEOs, and executives who occupied positions of power and used those positions to either ask for sexual favors from women subordinates or pushed themselves onto unsuspecting or unwilling participants for sexual favor. Women across the Internet began to hashtag their Twitter responses with #MeToo to show their solidarity with other women who had been made the victims of sexual assault. It was widely viewed as a movement towards the empowerment of women, as they were using their voices to be heard and to challenge a system in which men used their power to subordinate women in a demeaning and non-consensual manner (Ralph). However, as the Movement has picked up steam, many voices have criticized it. Roseanne Barr, for instance, recently called a woman who exchanged sexual favors to advance her career a “ho” and fixed the label to women like the politician and presidential candidate Kamala Harris (Henderson). When Christine Blasey Ford and Democrats mounted an unverifiable attack on the character of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, many saw it is the left using the movement or rather exploiting the movement for purely political purposes. Thus, the impact of the movement has been two-pronged: on the one hand it has brought more attention to women’s predicament in society and in the workplace and provided them with a platform to voice their concerns. On the other hand, it has provided a culture of accusation in which people’s lives and careers can be derailed even though there is no evidence that what the person is accused of actually transpired. On the one hand, many people were of the opinion that all women should be heard and believed—and then when those same people received the ire of women who felt abused, they changed their tunes and went into hiding (James Franco was one). This paper will look at both sides of the #MeToo Movement and show how it has had both good and bad effects so far.
The good effects of the #MeToo Movement have been that it has given women more empowerment to use their voices to draw attention to law-breakers like Weinstein who use their power to rape, manipulate and assault. Women are now shown more respect in the workplace across all industries as virtually everyone in authority has been put on notice: unless they want their careers ruined by having a #MeToo post about them hitting the Internet, they better be on their best behavior at all times. No more leering, no more innuendoes or unwanted solicitation: the movement has empowered women today to the point that they no longer feel powerless against powerful men. They can stand up to them because the Internet has given them a weapon—a tool to use against men who try to take advantage of them for their own personal pleasure.
When Google tried to get away with giving a high ranking executive accused by the #MeToo Movement, Google employees took to protesting the decision in order to draw attention to unfair practices in the tech giant (Elsesser). Their protests helped to bring change to the company and to other businesses across America, where men and women alike have stood shoulder to shoulder in unison for women’s empowerment. Companies like Google and other Silicon Valley businesses are now reshaping the way they think about women in the workplace. They are hiring more, paying more and creating safer spaces for women: as O’Neil et al. put it, “poor organizational responses to sexual harassment in the workplace can revictimise and exacerbate the negative effects” of sexual harassment, and workplaces have observed as much and are now making changes to correct their shortcomings (2587). Thus, the Movement has had a powerful and positive effect on women’s empowerment and has helped to put women on a much more stable footing in society and in the workplace going forward. All people in positions of power who have long been rumored to be exploiting others are now being chase out. The latest is the director Bryan Singer, whose long-rumored sex rings have been believed to be abusive towards underage boys. Women’s empowerment therefore has not only helped women it has also helped others who are not in a position to defend themselves.
The negative side of the #MeToo Movement is that it has in some cases led to a kind of witch hunt that has hurt the careers of people and caused unreasonable stress for others. Old accusations of pedophilia were leveled once more at Woody Allen though he was investigated twice by state officials over the same allegations and found to be innocent of the charges. Allen expressed his hope that the movement would not turn into a witch hunt, but soon his deal with Amazon was rescinded and actors and actresses were pouring out their outrage on social media, tweeting about how they would never work with Allen again—all because of old accusations which now found a spotlight in the MeToo Movement.
The culture of accusation is a dangerous one because a simple accusation can be enough to lead to the public condemnation of a person today. Kavanaugh, for instance, was nearly kept from the Supreme Court because of accusations of rape leveled at him by Blasey Ford who could not remember enough details about the event to convince those in power that it actually took place. Yet the accusation put Kavanaugh and his family “through hell” as he himself described during his Congressional hearing. He refused to back down from the accusations and many saw him as the epitome of toxic male power. Others saw Blasey Ford as a conspirator among the left trying to do anything to prevent the much despised Trump from getting another pick confirmed for the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. In other words, there was really no way to know for sure, though one could and most likely did have an opinion one way or the other. The media frenzy was enough to turn many people off from the Movement altogether. Even comedian Dave Chappelle warned women that there would be a blowback for so many accusations being hurled without sufficient evidence to back them up. The blowback, as Barr has shown, was that now instead of empowering women #MeToo would become the means of undoing them. Instead of helping them to get better positions in the workplace, managers would now be less willing to work with them period out of fear of being accused of sexual assault later down the road whenever the women felt it was time to get revenge for some slight or perceived injustice.
In conclusion, the #MeToo Movement has been both good and bad for women. It has empowered them to stand up for themselves against real perpetrators of violence and abuse. It has given them the power to challenge men who have used their positions to exploit others. This is the very definition of empowerment and it is real. On the other hand, some women have attempted to exploit the movement itself for political purposes, for social purposes and for economic purposes: they have leveled accusations that have not been supported by facts, and they in turn have been called out by others who are tired of the charade of victimization and victimhood status. What empowers some does not empower all.
Works Cited
Elsesser, Kim. “Googlers To Walk Out Over Sexual Harassment: Here Are The Lessons
For Google.” Forbes, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2018/10/31/googlers-walk-out-over-sexual-harassment-here-are-the-lessons-for-google/#2c0deb477cdb
Henderson, Cydney. “Roseanne Barr calls #MeToo accusers 'hoes,' slams Sen. Kamala
Harris, Christine Blasey Ford.” USAToday, 2019.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2019/03/03/roseanne-barr-calls-metoo-accusers-hoes-slams-sen-kamala-harris/3048973002/
O'Neil, Adrienne, et al. "The# MeToo movement: an opportunity in public health?." The
Lancet 391.10140 (2018): 2587-2589.
Ralph, Sarah. "# MeToo and# TimesUp-what now for employers?." Governance
Directions 70.3 (2018): 140.