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Howiwillchange: Engaging Men and Boys in the #Metoo Movement. Psychology of Men & Masculinity

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Howiwillchange: Engaging Men and Boys in the #Metoo Movement. Psychology of Men & Masculinity Psychology of Men & Masculinity #HowIWillChange: Engaging Men and Boys in the #MeToo Movement Morgan E. PettyJohn, Finneran K. Muzzey, Megan K. Maas, and Heather L. McCauley Online First Publication, September 13, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/men0000186 CITATION PettyJohn, M. E., Muzzey, F. K., Maas, M. K., & McCauley, H. L. (2018, September 13). #HowIWillChange: Engaging Men and Boys in the #MeToo Movement. Psychology of Men & Masculinity. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/men0000186 Psychology of Men & Masculinity © 2018 American Psychological Association 2018, Vol. 1, No. 999, 000 1524-9220/18/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/men0000186 #HowIWillChange: Engaging Men and Boys in the #MeToo Movement Morgan E. PettyJohn, Finneran K. Muzzey, Megan K. Maas, and Heather L. McCauley Michigan State University In response to the #MeToo movement, #HowIWillChange was intended to engage men and boys in the ongoing discussion about sexual violence by asking them to evaluate their role in sustaining rape culture. We collected publicly available tweets containing #HowIWillChange from Twitter’s application pro- gramming interface on October 26, 2017 via NCapture software, resulting in 3,182 tweets for analysis. Tweets were analyzed qualitatively and coded into three primary groups: (a) users committing to actively engage in dismantling rape culture, (b) users indignantly resistant to social change, and (c) users promoting hostile resistance to social change. Actions suggested by users for dismantling rape culture included the following: examining personal participation in toxic masculinity, teaching the next gener- ation, calling out other men, listening to women’s experiences, and promoting egalitarianism. Users indignantly opposed to social change used the rhetoric of “not all men” and promoted benevolently sexist attitudes to assert that men as a group have been unfairly targeted. Other users were hostile toward the notion of social change and expressed their resistance through attacking perceived weaknesses of men supporting #HowIWillChange, hostile sexist attitudes, statements of antifeminist backlash, and rhetoric of Trump-inspired racism. The identified themes provide valuable information for prevention scientists about what holds men back from participating, and what men are willing to do to help. Public Significance Statement #HowIWillChange represents an important dialogue on sexual violence against women, spurred on by the #MeToo movement, by specifically aiming to engage men and boys. Tweets included suggestions for dismantling rape culture, as well as evidence that some men and boys continue to be resistant to the idea of social change. The analyzed data will help inform sexual violence prevention efforts moving forward. Keywords: sexual assault, violence against women, rape culture, social media, masculinity The past several years have evinced an evolution in the social though such hashtags have not focused specifically on men’s role in discourse about rape culture. Due to the rise in prominence of ending violence against women. These movements are demonstrative social media platforms, these conversations have become more of a new form of social justice advocacy called “hashtag activism,” a far-reaching and include a greater diversity of voices than had been way to mobilize social media tools for social change (Kangere, possible just a decade ago, including the engagement of men in Kemitare, & Michau, 2017). For researchers focused on developing public discussions of sexual violence (Murthy, Gross, & Pen- interventions for sexual assault, it is critical to join in and evaluate savalle, 2016). Specifically, the social media platform Twitter has these social media-based conversations to maintain a pulse on public facilitated many conversations about violence against women sentiment, notable challenges, and gaps in knowledge. To this aim, through hashtags such as #YesAllWomen, #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou, the current study examines qualitative data from Twitter users who #WhyIStayed/#WhyILeft, and #NotOkay (Cravens, Whiting, & Aa- participated in rape culture dialogue using the hashtag #HowIWill- mar, 2015; Maas, McCauley, Bonomi, & Leija, 2018; McCauley, This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. Change, a hashtag intended to be used by men in response to the Bonomi, Maas, Bogen, & O’Malley, 2018; Rodino-Colocino, 2014), This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. #MeToo movement (Vagianos, 2017). Rape Culture Morgan E. PettyJohn, Finneran K. Muzzey, Megan K. Maas, and The concept of “rape culture” was identified in the 1970s during Heather L. McCauley, Department of Human Development & Family the second-wave feminism movement (Johnson & Johnson, 2017). Studies, Michigan State University. Scholars have subsequently defined rape culture as “a pervasive A summary of these data and our findings were presented via poster ideology that effectively supports or excuses sexual assault” (Burt, presentation at the University of Michigan’s Sexual Assault Prevention 1980, p. 218). Research has identified five key dynamics that Summit in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 2, 2018. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Morgan contribute to and perpetuate rape culture: (a) promotion of tradi- E. PettyJohn, Department of Human Development & Family Studies, tional gender roles, (b) sexist beliefs/behaviors, (c) adversarial Michigan State University, 552 W. Circle Drive, 13E Human Ecology, sexual beliefs (viewing women’s engagement in sex as a form of East Lansing, MI 48824. E-mail: [email protected] manipulation), (d) hostility/distrust toward women, and (e) view- 1 2 PETTYJOHN, MUZZEY, MAAS, AND MCCAULEY ing violence as an appropriate and often necessary response (John- strategies that aim to engage men fail to adequately address sys- son & Johnson, 2017; Kimmel & Ferber, 2000). temic inequalities between men and women. For instance, they are It is often difficult for individuals to identify how their beliefs, not grounded in theory of intersectionality in the same way as behaviors, and attitudes contribute to rape culture due to how feminist and queer scholarship (Johnston, 2018). Intersectionality covertly these dynamics have become ingrained in how we social- refers to the confluence of aspects of people’s identity (e.g., ize with one another (Johnson & Johnson, 2017). It can also be gender, race, sexual orientation, class) and how this impacts social difficult for people to conceptualize why some of these dynamics positionality and life outcomes (e.g., health, poverty, violence; are problematic when they appear to occur disconnected from acts Crenshaw, 1991). Crenshaw (1991) introduced this term in the of overt sexual violence. Examples of such problematic dynamics context of analyzing the disproportionate levels of physical and could include conservative beliefs that men should be “head of the sexual violence experienced by women of color, which highlights household,” socializing men to be assertive and women to be the irony that this concept is not being widely used by prevention passive, or withholding reproductive rights from women (Kimmel efforts to improve or critically analyze outcomes of programs & Mahler, 2003). Although these situations may not always lead engaging men. directly to violence being perpetrated against women, they set the Further, by overemphasizing the importance of men trying to stage for inequalities to persist by devaluing the voices and opin- engage other men, the experiences and needs of women are still ions of women compared with men. These dynamics help create a ignored. Ironically, by edging women out of prevention efforts, society where instances of violence against women are not be- these programs may be perpetuating many of the ideals they are lieved or taken seriously, allowing sexual violence to persist. trying to fight against (e.g., only men’s voices carry substance Historically, rape and sexual violence have been seen as a worth listening to, only men should be in leadership/teaching “women’s issue,” leaving much of the advocacy and prevention positions over other men). These critiques are important to con- work up to women (Campbell & Wasco, 2005). There is an sider alongside existing empirical findings as prevention programs inherent irony in classifying rape culture as an issue to be ad- continue to be modified and developed. dressed by women when women and girls are disproportionately the victims rather than the perpetrators of sexual violence (Na- Evolution of Hashtag Activism Regarding tional Center for Victims of Crime, 2015). Relying solely on Rape Culture women to convince men to change this dynamic creates a para- doxical issue in which those who suffer the most from the oppres- Hashtag activism has become a way for oppressed groups to sion of rape culture (women), are expected to somehow have come together, unite their message, and share their unique stories influence over those who are privileged in this dynamic (men). through a common word or phrase on a social media platform This process may have contributed to the limitation of progress of (Maas et al., 2018). In response to (then presidential candidate) previous movements to combat rape culture that were led by Donald Trump bragging about grabbing women by their geni- women. tals and kissing them without consent, millions of people used #NotOkay to give
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