THE IMPACTS OF #MeToo MOVEMENT TOWARDS THE SHIFT OF UNDERSTANDING AND AWARENESS ABOUT SEXUAL HARASSMENT ISSUE IN THE US (2017-2019)

Abstract

All around the world, women have been struggling to face the issue of sexual harassment for years, including the United States. Previously, in the US the issue of sexual harassment was not discussed and taken seriously both by society and states. Additionally that the women who were the victims were likely being blamed and judged for the incident that happened to them. For years activists fought to overcome the issue within the institutions through the campaigns and movements, but none of them produced significant implications for the issue of sexual harassment in the US. However, after the emergence of #MeToo in 2017, the issue of sexual harassment has changed, in particular towards the understanding and awareness about the issue in the US. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze to what extent the movement affects the understanding and awareness of sexual harassment in the US. This thesis uses the method of narrating the existing phenomena and collecting the secondary data. It also uses the concept of feminist institutionalism approach as the main concept, followed by the reception theory, digital feminism and the perspective of populism. It is found that there is a strong relationship between sexual harassment and the gendered institutions. Thus, this paper concludes that to overcome the issue of sexual harassment, the institutions need to be re-gendered.