The #MeToo debate – recommended reads

IQ2 Australia and Vivid Ideas debated whether, ‘#MeToo has gone too far’. Here is a curated snapshot of the public conversation – just in case you’ve had your head in the sand.

Article

Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades

New York Times

Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

5 October 2017

This is the article that broke the Harvey Weinstein story. While it’s now internationally infamous, it is well worth reading to understand how strong the structures that protected Weinstein were. It includes his first official response.

Video

TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers

TIME

Diane Tsai, Spencer Bakalar, Julia Lull [producers]

6 December 2017

Dishwashers, Hollywood stars, academics, hotel staff, journalists, an engineer, and even a senator feature in this short video by TIME of people speaking up against sexual harassment.

Article

I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life

babe.net

Katie Way

13 January 2018

This piece wins the title of ‘Most Divisive Contribution to the #MeToo Movement’. It is both celebrated as a precise example of young women’s damaging sexual experiences and scorned for undermining #MeToo by lacking journalistic integrity and conflating “bad sex” with assault.

Article

The Humiliation of Aziz Ansari

Caitlin Flanagan

The Atlantic

14 January 2018

This response to the babe.net article labels it “3,000 words of revenge porn”. Ouch. It highlights the generational differences in attitudes to sex and feminist values that has been underpinning the #MeToo debate.

A separate yet notable moment in the generational rift between women over #MeToo was when Katie Way, the 22 year old author of the Ansari article called Ashleigh Banfield, a 50 year old female news anchor who criticised her piece, “that burgundy lipstick bad highlights second-wave feminist has-been”.

Article

Want #MeToo to serve justice? Use it responsibly

Michael Salter

ethics.org.au

31 January 2018

IQ2 guest Michael Salter is an expert in trauma, gendered violence, sexual abuse, and social media. He reflects on how the #MeToo movement can retain potency and serve justice.

Here seems a good space to explain why we invited two men to be part of this debate – Michael Salter and Benjamin Law. It’s an approach some people disagree with. The Ethics Centre and Vivid Ideas felt the conversation would benefit if both women and men took part and speak with another.

Podcast

Has #MeToo Gone Too Far, or Not Far Enough?

Waleed Aly & Scott Stephens

The Minefield

7 March 2018

A favourite ethicist of ours Scott Stephens poses a key challenge to the #MeToo movement: are we comfortable for this revolution to take innocent people as collateral damage?

It’s a question Teen Vogue columnist Emily Lindin answered with her controversial tweet, “If some innocent men’s reputations have to take a hit in the process of undoing the patriarchy, that is a price I am absolutely willing to pay”.

Video

In the age of #MeToo

The Feed SBS VICELAND
Jeanette Francis

“Lads, it’s time to admit if you’ve been gross.” IQ2 guest and TV journalist Jeanette Francis, aka Jan Fran, asks why there isn’t a #MeToo hashtag for men, the ‘doers’ of the harassing. This little video package with its provocation and stats on sexual harassment is a finalist in the mid-year Walkley awards.

Watch the IQ2 debate here: ‘#MeToo has gone too far’

Libby-Jane Charleston & Michael Salter vs Jan Fran & Ben Law

A collaboration between The Ethics Centre and Vivid Ideas