The Impact of the Me Too Movement's Journalism

Protesters at a 2019 Woman’s March. Photo by Lynn Friedman.

Protesters at a 2019 Woman’s March. Photo by Lynn Friedman.

By Merve Hannah O’Keefe

The Me Too movement is unprecedented in exposing the pervasiveness of sexual violence around the world. The journalism uncovering decades of sexual violence perpetuated by powerful men was central to the movement galvanizing support and participation from millions worldwide. The movement has had massive global reverberations resulting in many changes including legal reform, the empowerment of sexual violence survivors, and a cultural shift in perception of power, gender, and sexual violence.[1] Me Too[2] journalism, in particular, has brought sexual violence perpetrators to justice and given many survivors[3] the strength to speak up. Some journalistic practices surrounding Me Too, however, have proven detrimental to all parties, including to the movement itself. This article will explore how Me Too reporting has affected journalists covering sexual violence, perpetrators of sexual violence, and sexual violence survivors.

BACKGROUND

In 2006, activist Tarana Burke created a non-profit organization and developed tools and youth training programs to help women of color from low-wealth communities who had survived sexual violence.[4] Her goal was to empower survivors through empathy and facilitate healing through solidarity.[5] In this endeavor, she called her movement “Me Too.”[6][7]

The movement gained mass momentum in late 2017, shortly after three journalists published articles exposing Harvey Weinstein’s numerous incidents of sexual violence. Activist and actress Alyssa Milano took to Twitter to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem,” asking those who had experienced sexual violence to reply to her tweet with the words “Me Too.”[8]

Within 20 minutes, she received ten thousand replies on Twitter,[9] and within the first 24 hours the viral #MeToo hashtag appeared on Facebook twelve million times.[10] The movement grew exponentially, with similar hashtags emerging in 23 other languages.[11] Me Too was instrumental in the trial and conviction of Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men around the world who had abused their authority.[12] The movement led to these figures “falling rapidly like dominoes.”[13] 

HOW ME TOO AFFECTED JOURNALISTS COVERING SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The work of journalists Jodi Kantor, Meghan Twohey and Ronan Farrow was critical in exposing Harvey Weinstein’s sexual violence. Their October 2017 articles in The New York Times and The New Yorker, respectively, detailed the accounts of dozens of women who were subjected to or could confirm Weinstein’s sexually violent behavior.[14] Their articles are said to have led to the trial and conviction of Weinstein, who was found guilty of felony sex crime and third-degree rape.[15] Kantor, Twohey, and Farrow’s months of investigative journalism won them the Pulitzer Prize for public service for raising global consciousness “regarding sexual harassment and assault and the dynamics of gender and power.”[16]

In August 2017, Farrow had initially taken the story to NBC where he worked, but NBC opted not to publish the groundbreaking report. According to Farrow’s book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, NBC instead tried to suppress the report because of Weinstein’s relationship with four NBC executives and his threats to expose NBC anchor Matt Lauer’s alleged sexual violence.[17] Columnist Ben Smith of The New York Times argued, in his critique of Farrow’s book, that the real reason NBC did not publish Farrow’s article was that it fell short of their journalistic standards of proof.[18] Farrow and New Yorker editor Michael Luo, however, have denied these claims, stating that they stand by Farrow’s reporting.[19] Farrow responded to further controversy writing that his book was “thoroughly reported and fact-checked.”[20]

According to Farrow, Weinstein’s efforts to kill the story did not stop with blackmailing NBC executives.[21] Weinstein hired “an army of spies” to suppress the story by surveilling the women he had sexually abused as well as secondary sources who could confirm the women’s allegations and journalists involved with the reporting.[22] Weinstein’s investigators from two expert intelligence companies also located Farrow’s home and followed him with tracking technology. Other journalists received similar treatment: one of Weinstein’s spies, for example, posed as a women’s rights activist to extract information from Kantor and discredit sources.[23]

The Me Too movement revealed how far powerful sexual violence perpetrators and their affiliates can go to kill a story, including engaging in practices directly affecting the lives of survivors trying to come forward and journalists trying to expose their abuse of power. Weinstein’s actions were apparently well-known for decades; his active efforts to suppress the exposure of his sexually violent behavior show why sources were hesitant to speak out, and why journalists were unable – or their outlets unwilling – to publish.

HOW ME TOO JOURNALISM AFFECTED THE ALLEGED AND CONVICTED PERPETRATORS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The presumption of innocence is one of the core principles of most legal systems and is considered a fundamental human right by the United Nations.[24] When media report on a suspect’s wrongdoings before they have been proven in court, the suspect can face consequences like employment termination before the legal due process has been carried out [25] and public opinion and, ultimately, the jury in the eventual trial, can be unduly swayed.[26] Therefore, when exposing crime and abuse of power, reputable news outlets generally have a high journalistic standard of proof. They ensure that the accounts of multiple sources and witnesses are included, and that rigorous corroboration and verification are carried out.[27] Sexual violence crimes, however, often occur where there are no witnesses, have no visible injuries as evidence, and sometimes no chance of verification and corroboration due to shame associated with victims disclosing their experiences.[28] These factors typically prevent sexual violence crimes from having as strong of a foundation of proof to report on as other crimes.

Given the overwhelming evidence of sexual violence’s pervasiveness in the wake of the Me Too movement, however, some journalists have prioritized sexual violence victims’ experiences, rather than adhering to the same standards of proof as other crimes. This is largely due to the fact that the staggering volume of responses to Me Too has made the prevalence of sexual violence painfully clear: 81 percent of women and 43 percent of men in the United States have reported experiencing some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.[29] UN Women indicates that these statistics reach 97 percent for young women in the UK.[30] Victims of sexual violence often have more to lose than to gain when coming forward and reporting a case, due to potential backlash and the unfavorable odds of prosecution and conviction. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest U.S. anti-sexual violence organization, estimates that out of every 1000 sexual assaults, 995 perpetrators avoid incarceration.[31]

Because justice is not served in court for the vast majority of survivors who report cases, social media and Me Too journalism have served as means to secure accountability outside the legal system.[32] But circumventing the legal system carries its own costs. This new avenue of seeking justice has led to the “cancelling” of public figures, in which mass boycotts of figures occur following the broadcasting of their wrongdoings. “Cancellation” without due process can result in innocent people suffering irreparable damage to their reputations. Concerns over this rush to judgement have raised questions about the potentially over-reaching effects of the Me Too movement.[33]

Given the power of the media surrounding these issues, journalistic investigations should be carried out with utmost rigor so as not to wrongly and irrevocably crush someone under the weight of these accusations, nor discredit the movement. With so many allegations being published at the height of Me Too, however, some media organizations did not uphold the same standards of evidence as others.  

One stark example of this was the November 2017 front-page article in Australia’s Daily Telegraph accusing actor Geoffrey Rush of sexual misconduct during a 2015 theatre production of King Lear. The article compared Rush to Weinstein, but there were clear differences between the reporting on the articles. While Farrow had undertaken ten months to gather the facts and had spoken to thirteen first-hand and sixteen secondary sources for his reporting,[34] the Daily Telegraph journalist Jonathan Moran had put the story together without even speaking to the victim of the alleged crime, Eryn Jean Norvill, who had not wanted the story to be made public.[35]

As a result of the insufficiently researched and poorly executed report, Rush filed a defamation case against the newspaper where he was awarded 2.9 million Australian dollars (US$2 million).[36] During the ruling, Federal Court Judge Michael Wigney said the reports in The Daily Telegraph were “a recklessly irresponsible piece of sensationalist journalism of the worst kind.”[37] The story was damaging for the alleged perpetrator, alleged victim, the credibility of journalists, and the credibility of the movement as a whole.

HOW ME TOO JOURNALISM AFFECTED SEXUAL VIOLENCE SURVIVORS

Disregarding the Survivor

The Geoffrey Rush case shows how irresponsible Me Too journalism harmed not only alleged perpetrators, but also survivors of sexual violence. The Daily Telegraph published the poorly researched story without the consent of Norvill, who had solely wanted an apology from Rush and not to take legal action.[38] As a result of the article, she had to testify in court, not to help the court determine whether Rush was guilty of sexual violence, but whether he had been defamed by the newspaper.[39] During the defamation case ruling, Judge Wigney said Norvill’s evidence was unreliable and that she was prone to “exaggeration or embellishment.”[40] Journalists and commentators have weighed in on these remarks, arguing that that Judge “went too far”[41] and that this “public excoriation” would make it “very difficult” for other survivors to come forward.[42]

Similarities have been drawn between the unethical journalistic practice surrounding this story and the occurrence of sexual violence itself. Feminist commentator Jane Caro explains: “[Norvill] never wanted her complaints to be made public. Her life and experiences have been taken out of her hands and used in ways she did not seek. And she has been blamed. This is all too familiar for women.”[43]

The story forced Norvill into the spotlight and deprived her of autonomy. It compelled her to reluctantly participate in a defamation trial, which she publicly lost and which resulted in harsh remarks dismissing her version of events. It risked discrediting the Me Too movement and led to the likely discouragement of other sexual violence victims from coming forward.[44] 

Publication of Backlash and Retaliation

When journalists publish remarks such as those made by Judge Wigney, as well as further backlash and retaliation, other sexual violence victims may be discouraged to come forward.[45] According to RAINN, 20 percent of sexual violence victims in the United States do not report the cases for fear of retaliation (defined as any adverse action towards someone for reporting sexual violence including verbal insults and intimidation).[46] A study of college students found that for women, fear of retaliation was the most important barrier to reporting sexual violence, along with guilt, shame, and embarrassment.[47] After Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified at Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate Judiciary hearing for his U.S. Supreme Court nomination, media outlets publicized the retaliation and death threats she faced and amplified then-President Donald Trump’s ridiculing treatment of Ford’s testimony. As Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett wrote in The Guardian, “Trump’s mocking performance [acted] as a perfect illustration for why so many women do not report rape and sexual assault in the first place – for fear of such mockery and humiliation.”[48]

Such coverage can also traumatize other survivors. Alison Turkos, a sexual violence survivor, gave her account of the effect the Ford coverage had on her: “For those of us who have experienced this first-hand, and our bodies have literally been crime scenes, the news cycle is daunting and it is horrific… It can be inescapable. It's impossible and it feels like I'm sometimes drowning in it.”[49] Trauma resulting from sexual violence can be short-term or lifelong and can extend to secondary victims like family members as well as the direct victims.[50] The newsworthiness of threats or other retaliation should therefore be carefully weighed against the potential harm caused to readers.[51]

Selective Coverage

The Me Too movement was originally created to help “particularly Black women and girls, and other young women of color from low wealth communities, find pathways to healing.”[52] There has been criticism, however, that the progress yielded by Me Too has been predominantly for white women.[53] Research suggests that journalistic coverage is partially responsible for this outcome. Alyssa Evans found that The New York Times reported on white survivors of sexual violence significantly more frequently than people of color: 70.3 percent of their reporting was on white survivors followed by 7.1 percent African American, 3.9 percent Middle Eastern, 2.8 percent Latino and 1.1 percent Asian sexual violence survivors.[54] This coverage does not align with the frequency of lived experience, given sexual violence “disproportionately impact[s] women of color, immigrant women, LGBTQIA+ women, and disabled women.”[55] A 2018 study by the National Women’s Law Center study found that black women experience sexual violence at work at three times the rate of white women.[56] Lisa Corrigan argues that ableism, heterosexualism and sexism were also present in Me Too media reporting.[57]

This inequality in media representation compounds the problem of sexual violence. As sociologist Elizabeth Armstrong and her co-authors describe, “sexual violence… [is] both a cause and a consequence of inequality, not only on the basis of gender, but also along lines of race/ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, ability status, citizenship status, and nationality.”[58] Furthermore, as much as the Me Too movement provided solidarity for many survivors of sexual violence, media’s portrayal of only certain types of people – such as white, able-bodied, cis-gender females – legitimatizes only those sexual violence survivors. Others who fall outside those neat boxes do not feel as though their experiences are being validated and are thus not served by the movement.[59] It is therefore the responsibility of journalists to make an intentional effort to engage in inclusive coverage to fuel change that serves all survivors. As Burke, founder of the Me Too movement, writes: 

What history has shown us time and again is that if marginalized voices – those of people of color, queer people, disabled people, poor people – aren't centered in our movements then they tend to become no more than a footnote. I often say that sexual violence knows no race, class or gender, but the response to it does .... Ending sexual violence will require every voice from every corner of the world and it will require those whose voices are most often heard to find ways to amplify those voices that often go unheard.[60]

CONCLUSION

Dedicated efforts of journalists abiding by core principals of truth, fairness, and humanity helped spark a movement that yielded justice and change for many. As Me Too revealed both the scale of sexual violence and the challenges of reporting incidents, journalists began to shift away from conventional standards of proof and towards prioritizing survivors. Furthermore, Me Too revealed the lengths to which powerful men abusing their authority will go to prevent the truth from being uncovered, including measures that directly affect the lives of journalists and sexual violence survivors. However, there have been cases of irresponsible and unethical journalism that have negatively affected all parties including the credibility of the movement itself.  Finally, some insensitive reporting has discouraged further sexual violence survivors from speaking up, and selective coverage has left some groups largely absent from the movement that was initially intended for them.

The Me Too movement has given numerous survivors the strength to come forward, and has led to considerable legal reform, cultural shifts, and a new journalistic response to sexual violence. Me Too has brought perpetrators to justice and given many survivors a sense of solace in seeing their abusers pay the price for their crimes. However, given the far-reaching impact of the media, it is imperative that journalists report fairly and factually so as not to wrongly “cancel” a figure, respect sexual violence survivors’ privacy and dignity, and conduct reporting that is inclusive of all types of survivors. If journalists are able to do this, the credibility and legacy of Me Too will prevail.

About the Author

Merve Hannah O’Keefe is a Master of International Relations and Master of Journalism student at Monash University and is the Women’s Officer for postgraduate students. She has experience working in Turkey at the UN Migration Agency and NATO Counterterrorism Unit, and in Australia as a Human Rights Writer for Amnesty International and as an English Teacher to speakers of other languages.

Endnotes

  1. In this article, concepts such as sexual assault, abuse and harassment are referred to as sexual violence for issues of clarity and consistency. It is important to note that sexual violence does not necessarily involve any physical interaction whatsoever; sexual comments, psychological intimidation, blackmail and other forms of coercion also constitute sexual violence, as defined by the World Health Organization.

  2. The movement at hand is referred to as the Me Too movement as opposed to the #MeToo movement to pay homage to Tarana Burke who first founded the movement over a decade before it became a viral hashtag.

  3. In referring to the “person on whom the sexual violence is inflicted,” both terms sexual violence victim and sexual violence survivor will be used. These terms are seen as synonymous however sexual violence victim is used more frequently in the legal context and is used as such in this article, whereas the term sexual violence survivor is used where possible to encourage a sense of empowerment. These concepts do not only refer to women and are gender inclusive.

  4. Laurie Collier Hillstrom, The #Metoo Movement (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2018), 1-9.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Leah Fessler, “Tarana Burke, creator of Me Too, believes you don’t have to sacrifice everything for a cause,”  Quartz at Work, February 6, 2018, https://qz.com/work/1193569/me-too-movement-creator-tarana-burke-says-you-dont-have-to-sacrifice-everything-for-a-cause/ 

  7. Sandra E. Garcia, “The Woman Who Created #MeToo Long Before Hashtags,” The New York Times, October 20, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html 

  8. Hillstrom, The #Metoo Movement, 1-9.

  9. CJR Columbia Journalism Review, “The Reach of #Metoo.” Columbia Journalism Review, 2019, https://www.cjr.org/special_report/reach-of-metoo.php

  10. Hillstrom, The #Metoo Movement, 1-9.

  11. CJR, “The Reach of #Metoo.”

  12. Erin Overbey, “The Reporting that Led to Harvey Weinstein’s Trial and Conviction,” The New Yorker, February 24, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/the-reporting-that-led-to-harvey-weinsteins-trial-and-conviction.

  13. Jack Drescher, "Asses Making Passes: Making Meaning of Unwanted Sexual Advances." Contemporary Psychoanalysis 54, no. 4 (2018): 665-76, https://doi.org/10.1080/00107530.2018.1522526. 

  14. Ronan Farrow, “From aggressive overtures to sexual assault: Harvey Weinstein’s accusers tell their stories,” The New Yorker, October 10, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories. 

  15. Overbey, “The Reporting that Led to Harvey Weinstein’s Trial and Conviction.” 

  16. The New Yorker, “The New Yorker and the New York Times Win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service”, The New Yorker, April 16, 2018 https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-new-yorker-and-the-new-york-times-win-the-pulitzer-prize-for-public-service 

  17. Ellen Cranley, “These are the NBC executives who allegedly tried to shut down the Harvey Weinstein story and are still at the company”, Insider, November 5, 2019, https://www.insider.com/nbc-execs-tried-to-shut-down-harvey-weinstein-story-2019-11. 

  18. Ben Smith, “Is Ronan Farrow Too Good to Be True?” The New York Times, May 17, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/business/media/ronan-farrow.html.

  19. Christi Carras, “Ronan Farrow’s critics are circling. Here’s what you should know about his media war”, Los Angeles Times, May 20, 2020  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/business/media/ronan-farrow.html

  20. Ibid.

  21. Cranley, “These are the NBC executives who allegedly tried to shut down the Harvey Weinstein story and are still at the company.”

  22. Ronan Farrow, “Harvey Weinstein’s army of spies,” The New Yorker, November 6, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies.

  23. Ibid; Ronan Farrow, “The Black Cube chronicles: The private investigators,” The New Yorker, October 7, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-espionage/the-black-cube-chronicles-the-private-investigators 

  24. United Nations General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNGA, 1949, retrieved from https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/udhr.pdf

  25. Chris Greer and Eugene McLaughlin, "‘Trial by Media’: Policing, the 24-7 News Mediasphere and the ‘politics of Outrage’." Theoretical Criminology 15, no. 1 (2011): 23-46, https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480610387461.

  26. Simon Statham, Redefining trial by media: Towards a critical-forensic linguistic interface (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2016), 201-325.

  27. Jim Onyango Ongowo, “Ethics of Investigative Journalism”, The University of Leeds, 2011, https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/caseconsortium/casestudies/23/casestudy/files/sunsentinel/coronel_chapter_10_16.pdf.

  28. United Nations, “Innovative Procedures: Hearing, protecting and counselling survivors of sexual violence”, United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, https://www.icty.org/en/features/crimes-sexual-violence/innovative-procedures; World Health Organization, Guidelines for medico-legal care of victims of sexual violence (Geneva: WHO, 2003), 6-16.

  29. Stop Street Harassment. The Facts Behind the #MeToo Movement: A National Study on Sexual Harassment and Assault. Reston, Virginia, 2018. https://stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Full-Report-2018-National-Study-on-Sexual-Harassment-and-Assault.pdf.

  30. UN Women, “Prevalence and reporting of sexual harassment in UK public spaces: A report by the APPG for UN Women,” 2021, APPG for UN Women, https://www.unwomenuk.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/APPG-UN-Women_Sexual-Harassment-Report_2021.pdf; Young women refers to women aged 18 to 24.

  31. RAINN Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, “The Criminal Justice System: Statistics,” 2017, RAINN, https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system

  32. Sophie Sills, Chelsea Pickens, Karishma Beach, Lloyd Jones, Octavia Calder-Dawe, Paulette Benton-Greig, and Nicola Gavey, "Rape Culture and Social Media: Young Critics and a Feminist Counterpublic." Feminist Media Studies 16, no. 6 (2016): 935-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2015.1137962.

  33. Jonathan Handel, "'Did The Law Fail Us?' A Legal Debate on #Metoo." Hollywood Reporter 424 (2018): 76-79.

  34. Farrow, “From aggressive overtures to sexual assault: Harvey Weinstein’s accusers tell their stories.” 

  35. Eloïse Mignon and Paul Rae, "Masculinity after #MeToo in Mainstream Theatre." Performance Research 24, no. 8 (2019): 106-20, https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2019.1718444; Georgina Mitchell, “'I would have been content to receive a simple apology': Norvill speaks out,” The Sydney Morning Herald, April 11, 2019, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/i-would-have-been-content-to-receive-a-simple-apology-norvill-speaks-out-20190411-p51db1.html.

  36. Michael McGowan, “Geoffrey Rush defamation case: newspaper's appeal 'weighs heavily' on actor,” The Guardian, May 27, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/27/geoffrey-rush-defamation-case-newspapers-appeal-weighs-heavily-on-actor; The Associated Press, “Geoffrey Rush awarded $2 million in Sydney defamation case,” ABC News, May 23, 2019, https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/geoffrey-rush-awarded-million-sydney-defamation-case-63222677.

  37. McGowan, “Geoffrey Rush defamation case: newspaper's appeal 'weighs heavily' on actor.” 

  38. Mitchell, “'I would have been content to receive a simple apology': Norvill speaks out.” 

  39. Alison Croggon, “The Rush trial: A backgrounder,” Witness Performance, November 8, 2018, https://witnessperformance.com/the-rush-trial-a-backgrounder/ 

  40. McGowan, “Geoffrey Rush defamation case: newspaper's appeal 'weighs heavily' on actor.”

  41. Jamila Rizvi, “The Biggest Loser in the Geoffrey Rush Case”, Future Women, 2019, https://futurewomen.com/culture-2/thelatest/the-biggest-loser-in-the-geoffrey-rush-case/ 

  42. Girard Dorney, “Breaking down Geoffrey Rush’s alleged harassment from a workplace perspective,” HRM Online, April 18, 2018, https://www.hrmonline.com.au/sexual-harassment/geoffrey-rushs-harassment-workplace/; Rizvi, “The Biggest Loser in the Geoffrey Rush Case.”

  43. Lara Robertson, “The Geoffrey Rush Case: Feminists Stand with Eryn-Jean Norvill,” Future Women, 2019, https://futurewomen.com/culture-2/thelatest/the-geoffrey-rush-case-feminists-stand-with-eryn-jean-norvill/.

  44. Ibid.

  45. Kaelyn Forde, “Why more women don't report sexual assaults: A survivor speaks out,” ABC News, September 27, 2018, https://abcnews.go.com/US/women-report-sexual-assaults-survivor-speaks/story?id=57985818.

  46. RAINN, “The Criminal Justice System: Statistics.”; Josh B, “What Is Sexual Harassment Retaliation?,” January 28, 2019, Sexualharassmenttraining.com https://www.sexualharassmenttraining.com/blog/detail/18/what-is-sexual-harassment-retaliation#:~:text=When%20an%20employee%20alleges%20sexual,allegation%20is%20known%20as%20retaliation.

  47. Marjorie R Sable, Fran Danis, Denise L Mauzy, and Sarah K Gallagher. "Barriers to Reporting Sexual Assault for Women and Men: Perspectives of College Students." Journal of American College Health 55, no. 3 (2006): 157-62.

  48. Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, “Trump mocking Christine Blasey Ford shows how women are silenced,” The Guardian, October 23, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/03/trump-mockery-christine-blasey-ford-sexual-assault-script-male-dominance.

  49. Forde, “Why more women don't report sexual assaults: A survivor speaks out.”

  50. Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA), “Reporting on Sexual Violence: A Guide For Journalists,” http://www.ndhealth.gov/injury/nd_prevention_tool_kit/docs/2013mediamanual.pdf 

  51. Madison A Pollino, "(Mis)Representations of Sexual Violence: The Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford Testimonies." Critical Studies in Media Communication 37, no. 1 (2020): 71-84, https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2019.1694161; RAINN, “The Criminal Justice System: Statistics.”; Jo Healey. Trauma Reporting. 1st ed. Milton: Routledge, 2020.

  52. Tarana Burke, “Me Too Movement: History & Vision,” As of June 6, 2020, https://metoomvmt.org/about/.

  53. Lisa M Corrigan, "The #MeToo Moment: A Rhetorical Zeitgeist." Women's Studies in Communication 42, no. 3 (2019): 264-68, https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2019.1652528.

  54. The racial identity of 14.8 percent of the survivors was not disclosed; Alyssa Evans, "#MeToo: A Study on Sexual Assault as Reported in the New York Times," Occam's Razor 8, no. 3 (2018) 11-17.

  55. National Organisation for Women (NOW), “Black Women & Sexual Violence,” 2018, https://now.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Black-Women-and-Sexual-Violence.pdf,

  56. Amanda Rossie, Jasmine Tucker and Kayla Patrick, “Out of the shadows: An Analysis of Sexual Harassment Charges Filed by Working Women,” National Women’s Law Center, 2018, https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/SexualHarassmentReport.pdf,

  57. Corrigan, "The #MeToo Moment: A Rhetorical Zeitgeist."

  58. Elizabeth A Armstrong, Miriam Gleckman-Krut, and Lanora Johnson, "Silence, Power, and Inequality: An Intersectional Approach to Sexual Violence." Annual Review of Sociology 44, no. 1 (2018), 11

  59. Tarana Burke, “#MeToo was started for black and brown women and girls. They’re still being ignored.” Washington Post, November 9, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/11/09/the-waitress-who-works-in-the-diner-needs-to-know-that-the-issue-of-sexual-harassment-is-about-her-too/; Armstrong, Gleckman-Krut, and Johnson, "Silence, Power, and Inequality: An Intersectional Approach to Sexual Violence.,” 99-122; Corrigan, "The #MeToo Moment: A Rhetorical Zeitgeist.”; Kimberle Crenshaw, "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color." Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6 (1991): 1241-99, https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039.

  60. Angela Onwuachi-Willig, "What About #UsToo: The Invisibility of Race in the #MeToo Movement," Yale Law Journal Forum 128 (2018-2019): 105

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