Me Too are two simple but powerful words that not only shook the world but also exposed a wide range of sexual harassment. The robust and straightforward nature of the phrase depicts the complexity of social movements. It is not easy to define social movement since it does not involve stable political entities with characteristic constant access to power or political elites, which implies that it is not an interest group or a political party (Cohen, 2013). Additionally, a social movement is not just an unorganized trend that lacks goals or objectives. Instead, the definition falls in between the political party and interest group. It brings a wide range of people together to share a specific interest and advocate for social change. In their advocacy, social movements target exact social change. However, social movements are at liberty to challenge a social shift that another entity advocates for change. Social movements do not require formal organization since various alliances can work alongside one another or independently achieve a common cause.
Preliminary thesis
Several causes and factors play critical roles in social movement protests and revolutions. However, most people attribute the success to tech-savvy generations across the world. This research proposal seeks to examine the internet and social media platforms in the social movements to advocate for social change. While contemporary technologies play significant roles in social movements, people still have to organize and protest in traditional ways to facilitate social change.
Research question(s)
Through the #metoo movement, users found an accessible medium to share personal experiences about sexual assault and harassment in public social media platforms to advocate for social change (Lievrouw, 2012). The movement relied mostly on Twitter to spread fast as people posted and retweeted photos and posts to support survivors to come out and share their experiences and advocate for social change. Therefore, this research seeks to understand how online movement translates into real-world changes. In doing so, the study will focus on the specific research question below.
- How does online #MeToo movement campaigns translate to offline results?
Discuss the connection to course themes
Social media platforms increasingly expose highly stigmatized issues in society to revolutionize how users communicate. Sexual assault is a perfect example of a social problem that flooded social media after the emergence of the hashtag #metoo from sexual assault victims. People from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds began to share their experiences as survivors of sexual assault. Therefore, social media allows people to maintain their privacy and provides the opportunity to share their experiences about their feelings and physical conditions (Benjamin, 2008). During the #metoo movement, many women openly shared their sexual assault experiences that led to several high profile cases of sexual abuse and harassment. Consequently, several men who held prominent positions lost their jobs. The rapid spread of the social movement to various industries such as entertainment, government, and technology, among other institutions, underlines the significance of social change through social media platforms.