In 2017, the actress Alyssa Milano posted a tweet encouraging survivors of sexual harassment and gender-based violence to use the hashtag #metoo in order to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem”.
Her tweet inspired a worldwide movement, prompting more than 12 million Facebook users, in less than 24 hours, to use the term in a post.
Within a week, 1.7 million Twitter users across 85 countries had posted #metoo.
But seven years later, a study has found that one of the reasons behind the #metoo movement’s success was the fact that, while it empowered women to fight for social change, it was perceived by its supporters as adhering to the traditional feminine stereotype.
In the study, researchers compared #metoo with the social media campaign #sexstrike (another feminist movement that uses hashtags to produce communities of conversation) to see whether the difference in support for the movements could be explained by the gender-stereotypical associations they evoke.
They found that the language used by the #metoo campaign adhered to traditional feminine stereotypes that are associated more with victimhood and less with rebelliousness.
“That is to say, being seen as more in line with feminine stereotypes was linked to receiving more support,” write the report authors in the journal Sex Roles.
“Our research suggests that, ironically, feminist campaigns whose very goal is to fight traditional gender norms and stereotype-rooted discrimination may be judged against their display of stereotypical notions of femininity.”
This is especially true of women who protest in more communal (team player ready to help) and less confident and empowered ways.
“Given the overall strong resistance toward feminism,” researchers conclude, “undertaking action that is overtly non-stereotypical may lead to backlash and result in more resistance than engaging in social change that does not openly violate gender norms.”
At the same time, researchers write that uncovering stereotype-driven mechanisms equips women with knowledge that can guide decisions about planning collective action and the costs and benefits it may entail.
The full article can be downloaded at: Witkowska, M., Beneda, M., Nikadon, J. et al. Riot Like a Girl? Gender-Stereotypical Associations Boost Support for Feminist Online Campaigns. Sex Roles (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01502-0
D.L. Lee is the author of SISTERLY LOVE, a novel about two sisters who grow apart.