#MeToo having global impact
Thanks to the vast reach of social media and the prevalence of sexual misconduct in virtually every society, the #MeToo movement has proven itself a genuinely global phenomenon. Yet its impact varies widely from country to country, from potentially momentous to inconsequential.
No other nation has experienced anything close to the developments in the United States, the movement’s birthplace, where scores of prominent men — among them politicians, media stars and movie moguls — have lost jobs and reputations after facing sexual misconduct allegations.
As the global women’s movement prepares for International Women’s Day on Thursday, it’s clear the record elsewhere is mixed.
In Western Europe, some VIPs have been discredited and some new anti-harassment laws are in the works. Worldwide, the fallout includes backlashes against women who speak out, divisions within feminist ranks and minimal repercussions for accused harassers. And in many countries, the U.S. included, the movement has consisted primarily of well-educated professionals, largely leaving out working-class and poor women. Some skeptics have coined the hashtag #WeFew.
In some countries where the movement hasn’t caught fire, analysts have suggested that resistance to American cultural trends is among the factors.
“I wish it hadn’t started in the U.S.,” said Anne Marie Goetz, a professor of global affairs at New York University and a former United Nations adviser on women’s issues.
“The fastest way to discredit any women’s rights struggle is to say it comes from somewhere else,” Goetz said. “That’s been a longstanding putdown of feminist movements all around the world.”
In China, discussion of #MeToo has sometimes been censored on social media and branded as a destabilizing foreign movement. To thwart the censors, social media users have made creative use of hashtags such as #RiceBunny — a phrase which in China is pronounced “me too.”
The hashtags — and women’s accounts of harassment — proliferated in January after Luo Xixi, an academic now based in the U.S., accused a renowned Beijing-based professor of sexual misconduct when she was a graduate student. Other women lodged similar allegations, and the professor was fired. But questions linger as to whether a feminist movement can
gain greater clout in the face of government resistance.
In India, sexual misconduct allegations against more than 60 academics sparked divisions among feminists. A crowd-sourced list of alleged harassers was posted on Facebook by a U.S.-based law student, with contributions from students in India. But the list contained few details about the allegations or accusers, and was criticized by some women as unfair.
India passed a law in 2013 to combat workplace sexual harassment, but gender-equality activist Sudarshana Kundu said many women remain hesitant to speak up.
“There is culture of silencing that is prevalent,” she said by email. “Organizations are worried about their credibility and coun-
sel their women employees to not report instances and instead seek conciliation.”
Perhaps no country has had a more complex reaction to #MeToo than France — long identified as a haven for romance. The government is preparing new legislation on sexual violence and harassment, and some lawmakers want to impose fines for sexist catcalls. Yet despite sexual misconduct allegations against several prominent men, they have maintained their jobs and status. French feminist ranks, meanwhile, have experienced divisions — notably when actress Catherine Deneuve cosigned a letter depicting #MeToo accusers as puritanical, only to apologize after facing a backlash of criticism.