{"id":567,"date":"2020-01-23T12:45:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T09:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/?p=567"},"modified":"2022-10-13T16:11:03","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:11:03","slug":"politics-are-not-made-by-white-powerful-heterosexual-men-but-by-you-and-me-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/2020\/01\/23\/politics-are-not-made-by-white-powerful-heterosexual-men-but-by-you-and-me-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics Are Not Made by White, Powerful, Heterosexual Men But by You and Me Too"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Salome Schmid <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This blog post was produced as part of the course \u201cSocial Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States\u201d at the University of Turku.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the example of the #metoo movement, the opportunities social media provides, and whether it\u2019s capable of shaping and changing political reality in the United States<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTell your story.
\nShout it. Write it.
\nWhisper it if you have to.
\nBut tell it.
\nSome won’t understand it.
\nSome will outright reject it.
\nBut many will
\nthank you for it.
\nAnd then the most
\nmagical thing will happen.
\nOne by one, voices will start
\nwhispering, ‘Me, too.’
\nAnd your tribe will gather.
\nAnd you will never
\nfeel alone again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2015 L.R. Knost <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current U.S. President has said: \u201cgrab [women] by the pussy… you can do anything.\u201d An Associate Justice of the Supreme Court has been accused of the sexual assault of several women. More than 250 powerful people in the U.S., from celebrities to CEOs and senators, have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct. With the amount of sexual violence, harassment, and discrimination happening every day at work, school, or at home, tabooing the topic of sexual abuse won\u2019t bring us anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To structurally change something in our society \u2014 on the state level, as well as in our individual way of thinking \u2014 it is necessary to talk about it. In 2017, the hashtag #metoo was introduced in the United States, expanding worldwide, to give victims of sexual assault a frame to talk about their experiences. Since mid-October 2017, when the New York Times<\/em> and New Yorker<\/em> published allegations of film producer Harvey Weinstein having sexually assaulted several women throughout the years, the hashtag has been used millions of times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving victims\nof sexual violence a voice and an equal chance of being heard, social media\nprovided an ideal public sphere for the movement, since it\u2019s not dominated by a\ncertain race or gender and is accessible to everyone. The vast scope and the\ndimensions of the #metoo movement, with the use of the hashtag averaging 55,319\ntimes a day in at least 85 countries, is undeniable. Nevertheless, social media\nactivism is often criticized for having only little impact on actual\npolicymaking. However, in the United States, the movement is expected to\ninfluence the 2020 elections, as it has caused a shift in the way Americans\nthink and made them question who is in power. This has also been triggered by\nrecent debates on abortion and women\u2019s control over their bodies. Through the\nsupport and solidarity of the movement, many women have found the courage to\nspeak out, which led, for example, to the resignation of nine members of\nCongress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the #metoo\nmovement has a feminist background and the victims are often women, everyone\nregardless of gender, background, or ethnicity can be a victim of sexual\nassault. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes, K., Ringrose, J., & Keller, J. (2018). #MeToo and the\npromise and pitfalls of challenging rape culture through digital feminist\nactivism. European Journal of Women\u2019s Studies<\/em>, 25(2), 236\u2013246. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1350506818765318<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North,\nA. (2019, Sep 27,\n2019). New poll shows major shift in how Americans think about men in power<\/em>.\nRetrieved from https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2019\/9\/27\/20885011\/trump-brett-kavanaugh-me-too-metoo-2020<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salome Schmid This blog post was produced as part of the course \u201cSocial Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States\u201d at the University of Turku. On the example of the #metoo movement, the opportunities social media provides, and whether it\u2019s capable of shaping and changing political reality in the United States \u201cTell your story. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-students-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}