Me Too Sexual Misconduct Movement

Summary

The Me Too or #MeToo sexual misconduct movement is an ongoing social justice movement aimed at bringing attention to sexual abuse and misconduct. While the phrase “me too” was first used to raise awareness of sexual violence—against women of color in particular—in 2006, the movement gained worldwide fame in 2017 as a social media phenomenon in which women spoke out about their experiences of sexual misconduct. Many actors, politicians, and other celebrities faced allegations stemming from the movement, and some saw consequences. However, a backlash also developed as questions arose regarding presumption of guilt and the potential chilling effect on all sexual expression.

Emergence of the Movement

In 2006, New York activist Tarana Burke, a survivor of sexual assault in her youth, struck upon using the phrase “me too” to help counsel other such survivors. She formed a movement under the name Me Too, encouraging survivors to come out as victims of abuse. Burke’s focus was primarily to provide an outlet for women of color, and her impact was mostly local. However, the movement would become part of a broader women’s rights and social equity movement in 2017.

On October 5, 2017, the New York Times broke a story about film executive Harvey Weinstein’s history of sexual abuse, featuring eight separate women who levied accusations against Weinstein ranging from misconduct to rape. The article included direct accounts from accusers including actor Ashley Judd, who alleged that Weinstein’s history of sexual abuse was a long-held open secret among those who had worked with Weinstein’s production company. The article revealed that the company had arranged settlements with numerous accusers, including actor Rose McGowan.

As news of the Weinstein scandal spread, a host of women and men who felt they had been victims of abuse were motivated to accuse their abusers through social media. News outlets contributed to the growing attention to the issue through investigative pieces on various allegations. On October 15, actor Alyssa Milano asked followers on the social media service Twitter to reply to her post with “me too” if they had been sexually harassed or assaulted. By the following day, the hashtag #MeToo had been used more than 200,000 times, and the movement grew rapidly from there. Those responding ranged from celebrities to everyday citizens.

The next nationally famous figure to be implicated was actor Kevin Spacey, accused by actor Anthony Rapp of making sexual advances against him while he was a minor. Rapp’s accusations, first reported on October 29, expanded the scope of the controversy to male victims of abuse and misconduct. They resulted in Spacey being fired or removed from several film and television projects, illustrating the movement’s power. (Spacey consistently denied Rapp's allegations as well as others that emerged against him; he was eventually found not liable in the Rapp case in 2022 and was cleared of all charges in another case in 2023).

In November 2017, allegations continued to surface regarding other prominent public figures. One of these was Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for a US Senate seat in Alabama, who was accused of pursuing underage girls while in his thirties. The controversy surrounding Moore became a major political issue, with Republicans including US president Donald Trump defending and supporting Moore while many others called for him to step aside from the race. Moore’s defeat by his Democratic opponent in a heavily Republican state was described in the media as further demonstrating the influence of the growing sexual misconduct awareness movement. That same month, Democratic senator Al Franken, entertainer Louis C. K., NBC’s Today show host Matt Lauer, and public radio star Garrison Keillor were all embroiled in controversy after accusations of sexual misconduct. Lauer and Keillor were fired, while Louis C. K.’s ongoing projects were canceled and Franken later resigned from the Senate.

In December 2017, Time magazine named “The Silence Breakers,” or the women and men who had brought widespread sexual abuse to the forefront of the public debate, as its Person of the Year, further boosting the #MeToo movement's profile. Some observers speculated that one of the reasons the movement gained so much traction in 2017 was as a response to Trump, who had been elected in 2016 despite being accused of sexual misconduct or abuse by at least fifteen women and making many documented misogynist statements, including bragging about his ability to take advantage of women. Trump's presidency also sparked other prominent women's rights activism, including the January 2017 Women's March protest held in many cities. In 2018, the second annual Women’s March drew heavily on the #MeToo movement, with many activists condemning Trump’s hostility to the movement as well as his own alleged sexual misconduct.

Ongoing Accusations and Activism

With the issue of sexual misconduct firmly established as a major social concern, the broad movement represented by #MeToo remained in the spotlight over the following years. Various groups and sub-movements emerged, often focusing on specific aspects, demographics, or responses. One prominent advocacy organization was Time's Up, founded in January 2018 by a coalition of Hollywood women to support anti-harassment campaigns and fund survivors' legal defense needs. The movement also gained impact in other countries. In April 2019, Australia's Sydney Peace Prize was awarded to Tarana Burke and Australian activist Tracey Spicer for their #MeToo efforts.

High-profile figures accused of inappropriate behavior or sexual harassment continued to make headlines throughout the late 2010s. A particularly notable development came in April 2018, when actor and comedian Bill Cosby was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman named Andrea Constand in 2004. While Cosby's case actually predated #MeToo's rise to prominence, it in many ways encapsulated the ideas behind the movement. Rumors of repeated sexual misconduct had surrounded Cosby for decades, but his celebrity status largely shielded him from consequences until a fresh wave of scrutiny and lawsuits began in 2014. Crosby's trial in the criminal case involving Constand had originally ended in a mistrial in June 2017, so his 2018 conviction was widely hailed as a triumph by supporters of the #MeToo movement. In September 2018, Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in prison. (However, his conviction was overturned in 2021 on the grounds that it conflicted with a deal made in a civil suit on the same matter in 2005.)

Meanwhile, other accusations also earned much attention. For example, in September 2018, Leslie Moonves, the longtime chief executive officer of the media conglomerate CBS, resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Moonves had previously expressed support for the #MeToo movement and even served on an entertainment industry commission formed in December 2017 to address sexual harassment and gender inequality. Another figure who faced widely publicized allegations was US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Most prominently, in September 2018 Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. Despite the substantial controversy, Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court that October.

The growth of the #MeToo movement also continued to help drive renewed scrutiny of celebrities who had longstanding reputations for misconduct but had maintained their careers. One of the highest-profile examples involved the musician R. Kelly. In January 2019, the television network Lifetime released Surviving R. Kelly, a documentary chronicling years of abuse allegations against the singer by a number of women and girls. The documentary not only led to a widespread boycott of Kelly's music and caused his record label to drop him, but also triggered multiple criminal investigations and charges. Kelly was eventually convicted on multiple counts in 2021 and 2023 and sentenced to thirty-one years in prison altogether.

The preponderance of high-profile cases seen as part of the #MeToo movement also began to inform some changes in state legislation regarding sexual harassment. By the end of 2019, the states of New Jersey, New York, and California had all passed laws extending the time frame in which people can legally file claims of sexual abuse and harassment, including in the workplace. Other jurisdictions debated similar measures. By September 2020, nineteen states had enacted new workplace harassment protections since the movement went viral.

The #MeToo movement remained a significant social force in the United States into the 2020s, and continued to gain traction in some other countries as well. The movement marked a major development in February 2020, when Harvey Weinstein—still widely considered a primary example of sexual misconduct—was convicted of sexual assault in the first degree and rape in the third degree. He was subsequently sentenced to twenty-three years in prison.

By this time, there was also a growing body of research on the #MeToo movement's actual social impact beyond just the most newsworthy cases. While sexual misconduct remained a difficult subject to accurately measure and track, some studies suggested overall societal improvements since 2017, especially in terms of blatant sexual harassment and sexual coercion in the workplace. However, some researchers also noted an increase in reports of smaller or indirect incidents of gendered harassment in the workplace—possibly just reflecting greater awareness of the issue, but also potentially indicating a degree of societal backlash against women. In a 2020 interview, Tarana Burke was among the prominent activists to argue that the systemic issues surrounding sexual abuse and harassment still needed to be addressed.

Evidence of the #MeToo movement's continued influence was seen in numerous events in the early 2020s. For instance, the February 2021 release of the docuseries Allen v. Farrow helped bring renewed attention to sexual abuse allegations made against famed director Woody Allen. Later in 2021, a government investigation found evidence supporting numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned that August. The movement's international impact was especially visible in France, where acclaimed writer Gabriel Matzneff faced fresh scrutiny for sexual relationships with minors in 2020, and charges of rape and sexual assault against famed French actor Gérard Depardieu were filed in 2021.

However, other events were widely interpreted as revealing the movement's limitations and challenges. In 2021, the Time's Up organization was embroiled in scandal around its leadership's connections to Cuomo; the group attempted to reorganize but ultimately ended operations in 2023. Also notable was the highly publicized 2022 trial in a lawsuit between actors and former spouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, which was heavily debated in the context of #MeToo. Depp filed the defamation suit after Heard implied he had abused her during their relationship, and the jury ultimately ruled in his favor. The trial attracted enormous public attention, especially on social media, with much activity expressing support for Depp and ridiculing Heard. Some critics contended that the episode might harm the #MeToo movement by discouraging victims from speaking out. However, others suggested the media frenzy over the case was not representative of the movement as a whole.

Controversy and Backlash

While the #MeToo movement earned widespread praise for giving a new voice to many people, it also generated significant controversy. Debate over the issue often followed similar tensions around the concept of cancel culture, which became a major element of partisan politics and the so-called culture wars in the 2010s and 2020s. Some activists and public figures have raised concerns that #MeToo has evolved into a form of public shaming and punishment without due process of law or any intervening arbitration for the accused. Others question efforts to censor or devalue the works of artists and other figures accused of misconduct or abuse. Even some supporters of the movement's core mission have worried about the power of social media to spin certain situations out of proportion or control, which might cumulatively have a chilling effect on sexual expression overall.

Critics of such critiques, meanwhile, point out that allegations of misconduct and abuse have long been ignored when directed at those in power, leaving public accusation and punishment through the media as the sole recourse for victims.

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