#MeToo and Feminist Movements - Catalysts for Change

Riding on the fourth wave of feminism that started around 2012 and emphasized the use of internet as a tool of empowerment, how did the #MeToo movement evolve from previous feminist movements? What was different and what was similar? To answer these questions, let’s gaze back to two landmark movements in the history of feminism in the United States.

The first was the protest against Miss America pageant that occurred in 1968. It was then the phrase “bra-burning feminist” figured into public memory, even though ironically, bra-burning never actually happened during the event. In 1968, to denounce the single standard of beauty promoted by the Miss America pageant that was also raciest, a group of women in New Jersey took it to the streets with signs and slogans that said “woman power” and buckets called “freedom trash can”, where they threw lipsticks and high heels. What strikes me about the 1968 protest in comparison to #MeToo was how explosive, eye-catching watershed events catapulted the popularity and support of these two movements, even though the agents for change came from very different backgrounds.

The 1968 protest started off as a local event that did not move beyond New Jersey. However, one striking move by a protest participant caught the attention of the world – one woman took off her bra under her shirt and threw it into the “freedom trash can”. The bold action immediately caught headlines.

In 2017, the upshot of the Me Too movement was also initiated by the explosive piece of news of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment. The reason of shock for the public, however, was different from the reason that made “bra-burning feminists” famous. The bra-throwing woman gained the attention purely by the surprising action itself – the woman who did it held no particular positional power. The story for Harvey Weinstein, on the other hand, had both elements of shocking behavior and social influence. Had it not been Ashley Judd, a famous actress, who exposed Weinstein, or had it not been Harvey Weinstein, a heavy weight in entertainment, who was exposed, the level of attention for the event could be very different.

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The second movement I would like to delve into was the Third Wave of Feminism. It began in the early 1990s United States. Building on the legal and economic rights made possible by the first and the second wave of feminism, third wave feminists went on to fight patriarchy, violence, and exclusion. The Third Wave, too, had its catalyst event that quite shockingly mirrored what happened in MeToo – Anita Hill’s 1991 televised testimony for sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas, who was nominated and eventually confirmed as a judge on the Supreme Court. 27 years later and a year into the MeToo movement, almost the same event occurred – Brett Kavanaugh passed the hearing of his sexual harassment allegations and became the Supreme Court justice. But this time, there was the internet, and the social media.