#Metoo in practice: revisiting social media’s influence in individual willingness to mobilize against sexual assault

ABSTRACT

The topic of sexual violence has received significant attention in recent years through both the public and media agendas. This study replicates a 2014 study by Armstrong and Mahone using the backdrop of the #Metoo movement to examine the role of social media, views of rape culture and bystander intervention in predicting one’s willingness to engage in collective action against sexual violence. A survey of young adults conducted in Fall 2019 found that the likelihood to engage in collective action against it remains strong. Results indicated that bystander intervention remained a key predictor, but that awareness of the #Metoo movement appeared to counteract the views on rape culture in predicting collective action. Implications for scholars and practitioners were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual assault prevention
• survey methods
• #Metoo
• rape culture
• young adults

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Because this study is a replication of an earlier work, we followed a similar format in the methods section to allow for ease in comparison to the prior work. This was intentional.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cory L. Armstrong

Cory L. Armstrong (PhD—University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a professor and chair of the Department of Journalism and Creative Media at The University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences. Her primary research includes gender diversity in informational media, influences on news content, and impacts of media messages on socially vulnerable communities. Dr. Armstrong joined UA in 2016 after working for 12 years at the University of Florida and the University of North Texas. [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Jessica Mahone

Jessica Mahone (PhD—University of Florida) is Associate in Research in the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University. Prior to joining the DeWitt Wallace Center, she was a research associate supporting impact measurement at Democracy Fund where she also was a research fellow in 2015. She has also worked as a temporary research associate for the journalism team at Pew Research Center where she contributed to the center’s reports on 2016 presidential campaign communications. E-mail: [email protected]