The Transnational and National across Twitter: the #MeToo Movement in the United States and the Republic of Korea
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In October 2017, the #MeToo hashtag went viral on the American Twitter database when its usage surged to nearly 800,000 Twitter posts. The hashtag worked to publicize the prevalence of sexual harassment against women and quickly gained international traction. Then in January 2018, following prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun’s online statement detailing her experiences with sexual harassment in the workplace, South Korean Twitter users began to utilize the #MeToo hashtag. While it is perhaps unsurprising to see the global spread of an activist hashtag, it is worth analyzing how South Korean women have embraced and utilized the hashtag. As the #MeToo movement travels to a nation both historically and culturally dissimilar and where the women’s movement is weaker, it is an opportunity to examine how frames diffuse and shift. Today, Twitter has become a space where the #MeToo community may foster a shared consciousness. Given the hashtag’s novel possibilities to improve women’s independence within a nation’s patriarchal order, this study analyzes the #MeToo movement’s development and framing in Korea in comparison to the movement in the United States. In analyzing online advocates and opponents’ terminology and expressions, all similarities and differences found between the U. S. and Korea reflect what aspects of the movements are diffusing transnationally or nation-specific. This study concentrates on four focal points in the context of each nation: 1) impressions of the movement itself and its progression; 2) who advocates hold accountable in cases of sexual harassment and gendered violence; 3) how advocates’ characterize and address those who identify themselves as survivors or victims; and 4) what manner of backlash has materialized. Though the #MeToo movement and its ‘modes of protest’ through Twitter originate in the U.S., divergent Twitter user content and focus between nations demonstrate the necessity of observing diffusion processes across differing political systems.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | August 2019 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Hong, Margaret | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Shin, Gi Wook | |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Stanford Global Studies, Center for East Asian Studies |
Subjects
| Subject | Stanford Global Studies |
|---|---|
| Subject | East Asian Studies |
| Subject | Social Movement |
| Subject | Feminist Movement |
| Subject | #MeToo Movement |
| Subject | Framing |
| Subject | Diffusion |
| Subject | South Korea |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Hong, Margaret. (2019). The Transnational and National across Twitter: the #MeToo Movement in the United States and the Republic of Korea. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/kf541hv6831
Collection
Stanford Center for East Asian Studies Thesis Collection
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- Contact
- margaret.hong93@gmail.com
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