Diffusion of the #MeToo Movement
The phrase “Me Too” was first used by social activist Tarana Burke in 2006 on MySpace to promote empathy among women of color who were victims of sexual assault, but the #MeToo movement did not gain traction until around 2017 when numerous women accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape. The movement spread across the globe and gained momentum in China in 2018, when Luo Xixi shared on Weibo that her professor at Beihang University sexually harassed her when she was a student. This inspired more women to share their own accounts on social media, including a screenwriter named Zhou Xiaoxuan. She revealed that she was harassed by Zhu Jun, a well-known and much-loved TV host and actor in China. Zhu filed a lawsuit against Zhou for defamation. In retaliation, Zhou countersued under damage to her dignity. While Zhou’s story went viral among Chinese internet users and received support from feminists and other victims of abuse, China is a highly patriarchal society that continues to stigmatize victims of sexual assault. Sexual harassment is not legally defined, and anti-sexual harassment laws are poorly enforced. Furthermore, the accused can easily sue victims under defamation charges, while victims are burdened with the need to provide proof of harassment. Additionally, the government banned the hashtags #MeToo and #我也是 on the Chinese internet.
The spread and suppression of the #MeToo movement in China can be explained with the threshold model for diffusion. At the time of sharing her story, Luo Xixi was living in California. Seeing so many other women speak up about their experiences during the rise of the #MeToo movement in the US inspired Luo to speak up on Weibo. Enough people in Luo’s social network shared their accounts of sexual assault or showed their support for survivors so that Luo was comfortable enough to share her own story with her network. This network included Chinese internet users as well, who publicly showed support for Luo and/or shared their own stories. The activity of these users spread to their own social networks, and so on until the #MeToo movement reached Zhou Xiaoxuan, who shared her story after a childhood friend posted about her own experience with sexual assault. All of this appears to resemble a threshold model for the adoption of ideas and innovations. These women needed a certain fraction of their social connections to “adopt” the #MeToo movement, whether by showing public support to victims of sexual harassment or sharing their own experiences, before they felt brave enough to disclose their own accounts. However, in the threshold model, it is possible that some of the individuals in a network will adopt a new idea or innovation while others do not. The idea or innovation spreads among a cluster of strongly-tied individuals, but it does not spread past the cluster via a local bridge because the threshold for adoption has not been met for the node on the other end of the bridge. Likewise, the #MeToo movement in China hit a boundary. It has gained momentum among victims of sexual assault and women’s rights advocates, but it has not spread to the rest of Chinese society. Men accused of sexual assault file defamation lawsuits against their victims, the government has made attempts to silence victims, and the stigma against victims of assault still remains among the general public.
The decisions made by women on whether or not to share their stories can also be pictured with a coordination game, although this is an extreme oversimplification of the burden that victims of sexual harassment carry. Suppose a woman who has experienced sexual harassment is exposed to the #MeToo movement on the Chinese internet. Internet users who shared their stories are urging others to be brave and take a stand because society needs to be aware of the abuse that is happening and start addressing the issue. This woman has two choices: to share her account online, or to remain silent. One fraction of her network has shared their own experiences or expressed their support for the #MeToo movement. The remaining fraction consists of individuals who carry the stigma against victims of sexual assault. If the woman chooses to share her experience, then she receives the benefit of social support among the fraction of her network that supports the #MeToo movement. However, her reputation would be damaged among the fraction of her network that blames victims. On the other hand, if the woman decides not to share her experience, then she maintains her reputation among the fraction of her network that stigmatizes victims and receives nothing from the fraction that supports #MeToo.
While concepts of diffusion in networks can help explain the emergence and challenges of the #MeToo movement in China, it should be emphasized that this is an extreme oversimplification of wider societal issues not just in China, but around the world, including the US. Countless women are subject to sexual harassment and abuse in societies that side with abusers over victims. Speaking up not only leads to just reputational risk, as in our coordination game, but also subjects victims to victim blaming, slut shaming, and retaliation from abusers. Cisgender male, transgender, and non-binary victims of sexual assault, like cisgender women, also hesitate to speak up on their experiences because of the norms that dictate gender roles. Even advocates and supporters of the #MeToo movement face consequences, such as defamation lawsuits or job loss. As a society, not only do we need to provide support for victims and hold abusers accountable, but we must address the issues of gender discrimination underlying sexual abuse.
Sources:
https://nytimes.com/2019/01/04/world/asia/china-zhou-xiaoxuan-metoo.html
https://nytimes.com/2019/12/26/business/china-sexual-harassment-metoo.html