After The New York Times published a story in October 2017 detailing sexual abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo movement exploded with women speaking up about their experiences with sexual violence.
While the #MeToo movement shows that progress has been made in our ability to take sexual violence allegations more seriously, it has also shed light on the fact that less weight is placed on allegations made by people who do not fit a specific, stereotypical mould. The Times’ breaking of the Weinstein story marked the #MeToo movement as one focused on the experiences of young, white, cis-female celebrities. The #MeToo movement needs to do more to ensure that it encompasses the experiences put forward by people of different backgrounds and sexual orientations, and puts equal weight on their experiences.
For instance, much of the coverage during the initial wave of #MeToo centred around sexual violence against wealthy, white women working in the film industry. Less focus was placed on the experiences of Black and Indigenous women and other women of colour, LGBTQ+ communities, and working-class women. These groups of people are greatly affected by a culture of sweeping sexual abuse under the rug.
The #MeToo movement placed plenty of scrutiny on Hollywood’s “casting-couch culture” of actresses being emotionally coerced to exchange job opportunities for sexual favours. While this is an important issue to expose, our focus on it inadvertently leaves out the experiences of a much larger group of people who deserve to have their voices heard.
