Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All

The #MeToo movement was an online movement created to spread awareness of sexual harassment and rape. It was originally founded in 2006 as a grassroots effort by American activist Tarana J. Burke to support survivors of sexual violence, and it gained popularity in 2017, in the wake of allegations of sexual abuse and rape against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Actress Alyssa Milano encouraged survivors to share their experiences on social media using the hashtag #MeToo, and the movement went viral. Across social media platforms, millions of people (predominantly women) from around the world shared their experiences of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape in workplaces, schools, and personal relationships. 

One of the defining features of the #MeToo movement was its use of survivor testimony to expose perpetrators and promote empowerment and solidarity for survivors of sexual assault. In this, it was similar to earlier projects that used digital platforms to connect survivors and promote feminist activism. Laura Bates’s Everyday Sexism Project was one of the most prominent of these: Like #MeToo, it used real survivors’ stories to enact societal change. The website was launched in 2012 and encouraged people from all over the world to share their experiences with gender discrimination and violence in order to expose the pervasiveness of misogyny.