Airing Dirty Laundry and Squealing on Pigs

This chapter examines the use of coming out tactics to draw attention to sexual violence—focusing on the internet-based #MeToo movement that began in 2017. It shows how the internet-based #MeToo built not only on Tarana Burke’s earlier offline Me Too movement, but also on the Clothesline Project, Take Back the Night marches, and “slutwalks.” It examines the extent to which each of these movements has I dentified the issue of sexual violence versus the identity of the victim, perpetrator, or both. It shows how and why the act of naming one’s harasser, assaulter, or rapist has been controversial—hearkening back to debates over outing in the 1990s. While some worry that people will be falsely accused, others argue that the cards are stacked against victims of sexual abuse and that they need to use whatever means possible to protect and defend themselves.