#METOO, BUT WAS I INCLUDED?

THE RHETORICAL FRAMING

OF THE ORIGINS OF THE ME TOO MOVEMENT

____________

A Thesis/Project

Presented

to the Faculty of

California State University, Chico

____________

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

in

Communication Studies

____________

by

© Jolene D Moore

Spring 2019
i
 PUBLICATION RIGHTS

No portion of this thesis may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner unacceptable to the

usual copyright restrictions without the written permission of the author, Jolene D. Moore.

iii
 DEDICATION

To all the women who can say “Me Too”

iv
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I would like to thank my thesis committee: Dr. Jennifer Makowski, thank you for the

countless hours of conversation while I worked through my initial ideas. I know this paper is not

what we originally discussed, but without your guidance and support, I would have never made

to the end of this project. Dr. Zach Justus, thank you for always being honest and kind in your

feedback. Your insight, encouragement, and quick responses kept me on track, on time, and

motivated. And thank you, Dr. Janell Bauer, for your advice and support. I have no words to

explain how grateful I am to each of you for your guidance in this project. And thank you to all

the other professors who inspired and helped me along the way.

Second, thank you to my family, especially my husband and best friend, Eric. Without your

encouragement, I would have never pursued a master’s degree. Thank you for your eternal love,

support, and the endless conversations while I worked out my ideas and frustrations. Thank you

to my children, Bailey, Lillian, and George, for your love and understanding. Thank you to my

parents for showing me that hard work and perseverance will be rewarded, no matter your age.

And to my second parents Johanna and Don, thank you for always saying yes. Finally, thank you

to Kristina for the hours of proofreading and edits.

v
 45

Rosen, J. (1993). Beyond objectivity. Nieman Reports, 47(4), 48-53.

PBS.org. (2019). Newspapers: The Chicago Defender. Rederived from

https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/defender.html

Rowe, P. (2017, Nov 20). Before #MeToo, they stood with Irene; Tales of abuse revive pain for

women who united to oust their harasser: The mayor. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from

http://mantis.csuchico.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.mantis.csuchico.edu/docview/1965998914?accountid=10346

Santiago, C. & Criss, D. (2017, October 19). An activist, a little girl and the heartbreaking origin

of 'me too'. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/17/us/me-too-tarana- burke-

origin-trnd/index.html

Schwartz, A. (2017, October 19). #MeToo, #ItWasMe, and the post-Weinstein megaphone of

social media. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/c

ultural-comment/metoo-itwasme-and-the-post-weinstein-megaphone-of-social-media

Sexual Abuse. (2019). The American Psychology Association. Retrieved from

https://www.apa.org/topics/sexual-abuse/index.aspx

Sexual Assault. (2019). Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/sexual%20assault

Sexual Harassment. (2019) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/sexual%20harassment

Smith, J., Chen, K., Basile, L., Gilbert, M., Merrick, N., Walling, M., & Anurag, J. (2017). The

national intimate partner and sexual violence survey. National Center for Injury Prevention and

Control: Division of Violence Prevention. Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/NISVS-StateReportBook.pdf
 ABSTRACT

#METOO, BUT WAS I INCLUDED? THE RHETORICAL FRAMING

OF THE ORIGINS OF THE ME TOO MOVEMENT

by

© Jolene D. Moore

Master of Arts in Communication Studies

California State University, Chico

Spring 2019

Based on mainstream media reporting, it would seem that in October 2017 the Me Too

movement was a result of American actress Alyssa Milano’s prompts following the sexual

assault allegations against American film producer Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag was quickly

used to bring awareness about the magnitude of violence against women. Through some of the

early reporting, it was brought to light that the movement was started over a decade earlier by

Tarana Burke, an African American activist, who used the phrase “me too” to unite and help heal

African American girls and women who had been sexually assaulted. Using a framing analysis

and feminist standpoint theory this paper investigates how the origins of the Me Too movement

were represented in newsprint reporting. Findings indicate three competing frames have

dominated discussions: 1. sexual predators as an inspiration for the movement; 2. Alyssa Milano

as the originator of the movement; 3. Tarana Burk as the originator of the movement. This article

concludes with a discussion of the implications for African American women voices based on

the frames presented in the mainstream media coverages that were analyzed.

vii
 1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In early October 2017, The New York Times published a news article detailing decades of

allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment against American film producer, Harvey

Weinstein (Kantor & Twohey, 2017). In the weeks to follow, two simple words, “Me Too,” were

posted on social media sites around the world as a rallying cry for women to share “personal

stories of sexual harassment and assault” (Santiago & Criss, 2017). This rallying cry came out of

a need to expose the prevalence and magnitude of sexual violence against women, not only in the

United States but around the world and as a result allowed for healing and change to begin.

The widespread reach and momentum of the current Me Too Movement, #MeToo, had

been largely attributed to American actress Alyssa Milano’s tweet on October 15, 2017. That

tweet read, “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ’Me Too’ as a

status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem” (Gilbert, 2017; Santiago

& Criss, 2017). Within the first 24 hours of Milano’s post, several U.S. news organizations

reported #MeToo had been retweeted about half a million times, and Facebook was full of the

hashtag as well (Gilbert, 2017). Over the next few months, more accounts of sexual harassment

and sexual assault at the hands of powerful men emerged through aggregated reporting from

mainstream media. This reporting was a combination of new accusations, personal stories shared

through #MeToo, and the perceived importance of these in combination with each other. As a

result, consumers of these news reports were given a broader understanding of the phenomena

that was taking place, which was something that could not be gained from social media feeds

alone.
 2

Consequently, mainstream media reports sparked a public conversation that initially

focused on men within the entertainment industry who had abused their power (Hill, 2017;

Pflum, 2018). The reporting of #MeToo and the movement as a whole has inspired solidarity,

empowerment, and action around the issues of sexual abuse1 in an effort to bring awareness to a

social wrong which has been ignored, misrepresented, and misunderstood for generations.

However, African American women, the actual originators of the phrase “Me Too” and the

subsequent movement, have argued that they have been largely left out of the current #MeToo

conversation.

Nearly a decade ago, Tarana Burke, an African American female activist created a

nonprofit organization dedicated to helping victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault

where she introduced the term “Me Too” to support victims in that effort (Hill, 2017). In 2017,

after Milano’s tweet, several other influential women – such as Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth

Paltrow, and Ashley Judd – not only came forward with personal stories of sexual abuse, but

they outwardly supported the movement as well as other women through the movement.

Notably, these faces of Hollywood have tended to be affluential white women (Collins, 2011). A

question now exists over whether or not African American women have been omitted from the

current Me Too conversation even though the movement started with and for them. Since the

current movement has seemingly prioritized the voices and experiences of white women, it is

worth investigating how the origins of the Me Too movement were reported in mainstream

1 Sexual harassment is defined as “uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature especially by a person in authority
toward a subordinate (such as an employee or student)” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2019). Whereas sexual assault is defined as “illegal sexual
contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent (as because of
age or physical or mental incapacity)” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2019). The term sexual abuse will be used as a combined term for sexual
harassment and sexual assaults. The American Psychological Association (2019) defines sexual abuse as “unwanted sexual activity, with
perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent. Most victims and perpetrators know each other
[however, this is not always true]. Immediate reactions to sexual abuse include shock, fear or disbelief. Long-term symptoms include anxiety,
fear or post-traumatic stress disorder.”
 3

media and if the contributions of African American women were also highlighted in this

reporting.

In this paper, I outline the roots of the Me Too movement and then investigate how the

origins of the current movement were initially reported in mainstream media print news. To do

so, first I review past research of feminist standpoint theory regarding perspectives on power and

marginalized voices. Then, by using a framing analysis to investigate the nature of mainstream

news coverage in relation to the reporting of the origins of the Me Too movement, I assess how

the contributions of African American women have or have not been represented across various

news reporting. I conclude by proposing some possible implications of that reporting.

I hope this study will contribute to a line of critical work being done by feminist and

gender scholars that consider the impact mainstream media reporting has on societal perceptions

and understandings. Looking at the news coverage of the origins of the Me Too movement and

the contributions made by African American women will help scholars gain a better

understanding of how race and status influence social perceptions of an issue. Additionally, it

may provide a greater understanding of how and why certain stories and experiences become

included in news reporting. In addition to an academic audience, I hope those who are writing or

developing news reports in the United States might draw from my work to become aware of the

possible impact they have on societal perceptions of minority groups. Especially when reporting

on the perspectives of women of color and how and why accurate portrayals of minority

experiences matter to the wellbeing of audiences at both the individual and societal levels.

Roots of the Me Too Movement

Although Milano’s Twitter post has been credited with elevating #MeToo into a movement

(Pflum, 2018), the effort started decades earlier with African American civil rights activist
 4

Tarana Burke (Gilbert, 2017; Hill, 2017; Santiago & Criss, 2017). In 1996 Burke, who was a

youth camp director at the time, was approached by a 13-year-old girl who shared her personal

story of sexual abuse at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend (Garcia, 2017). Horrified by the

young girls’ account, Burke cut her off and directed “her to another female counselor who could

‘help her better’” (Santiago & Criss, 2017). Burke recalls her dismissal of the young girl’s

disclosure and how it caused a look of pain and shock on the girl’s face. Burke remembers, “I did

not have a response or a way to help her in that moment, and I couldn’t even say ‘me too’”

(Garcia, 2017). Years later, Burke was still haunted by the girl’s response and not knowing how

to handle the situation better.

Ten years after her encounter with the 13-year-old girl, Tarana Burke created Just Be

Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping victims of sexual harassment and sexual

assault (Hill, 2017). This is where Burke devoted herself to helping victims of abuse and created

a grassroots movement which she named “Me Too” (Garcia, 2017). According to Burke, the

phrase “Me Too” was meant to help African American girls who had survived sexual assault; the

statement was a way for survivors to declare to one another “I see you, I hear you, I understand

you, and I’m here for you, or I get it” (Santiago & Criss, 2017). Burke quickly saw the empathy

and bond created between young survivors when the phrase was uttered and realized the

grassroots movement also needed to include adults so that healing could begin for women of all

ages.

Burke is now the senior director of Girls for Gender Equality, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit

organization that presents girls and women of color with leadership opportunities to help break

down issues of race and gender inequality within the workplace and the neighborhoods in which

they reside (ggenyc.org, 2018). This is done by providing programs to girls and women of color
 5

that focus on education, health and wellness, and taking on campaigns that initiate safety and

equality in communities (ggenyc.org, 2018). Burke travels the United States to participate in

public speaking events about the #MeToo movement and sexual violence (Wellington, 2017).

She also organizes workshops to help improve school and workplace policies around sexual

harassment, as well as workshops that focus on helping victims of sexual assault (Wellington,

2017). Here, the interesting and noteworthy thing is that Burke has been actively promoting and

using the phrase Me Too as a rallying cry for African American women and girls for decades and

the phrase has been explicitly linked to the issue of sexual violence.

In October 2018, one year after the #MeToo movement went viral, Tarana Burke spoke

out at the “Keeping Black Girls at the Center of #MeToo” town hall meeting in Chicago, Illinois

to advocate for girls and women of color2 finding their place in the

the current movement (Green, 2018). At the meeting, Burke argued the movement no longer has

“a space for black girls…[or] black women” because it has become a movement to take down

rich and powerful white men in the entertainment industry and journalism (Green, 2018; Jones,

2018). Burke went on to highlight that white women are currently dominating the movement and

although it is acceptable that they too are sharing their stories, the movement started with and for

black women and this original intention should not be overlooked. She emphasized that it is

necessary for women of color to see themselves in the movement because sexual violence

happens to more than just white women (Green, 2018).

2 According to Dr. Yolanda Moses (2016), a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, the term “women of color” is
used to describe all non-white women. The author of this research – a middle-class Caucasian woman – recognizes using terms such as “people of
color” and “women of color” does contribute to systematic racism and separation while reaffirming non-whiteness and a hierarchical society.
Although the focus of this research is on African American women, the term “women of color” will be used in this paper as a way to include “a
vast array of different racial or ethnic groups,” that have the potential to unify and to form solidarities with each other for collective political and
social action on behalf of many disenfranchised or marginalized people. Also, at this moment these terms are being used and are accepted in
academia and academic writing (Moses, 2016).
 6

In fact, in the United States, African-American women are more likely to experience

sexual violence than other racial or ethnic groups (Smith, Chen, Basile, Gilbert, Merrick,

Walling, & Anurag, 2017). According to a report published in 2017 by the National Center for

Injury Prevention and Control, minority women and men are more likely to be the victims of

sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence, with Non-Hispanic black women having

an elevated prevalence over others (Breiding, Smith, Basile, Walters, Chen, & Merrick, 2014).

The report, which presents the results of an ongoing U.S. random digit–dial telephone survey of

approximately 14,000 interviews, also indicates that African American women are less likely to

report incidents of sexual violence than women of other racial or ethnic groups (Breiding, Smith,

Basile, Walters, Chen, & Merrick, 2014). A similar ongoing U.S. longitudinal random sample

phone study of only women, conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and

published in 2017, achieved similar findings: African American women are more likely to be

victims of sexual violence and physical assault than other women of color and white women

(Smith, Chen, Basile, Gilbert, Merrick, Walling, & Anurag, 2017).

These findings have been corroborated by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and

the National Domestic Workers Alliance in their collaboratively published report entitled “The

Status of Black Women in the United States” (2017), which found that four in ten African

American women experience intimate partner violence at some point in their lives. Results of

this survey revealed that more than 20 percent of African American women are raped during

their lifetime, a higher percentage among women overall. Given that African American women

have the greatest need to address the issues of sexual violence, Tarana Burke’s Me Too

movement was an example of desperately needed activism that supported and centralized around

women of color. Thus, the co-opting of this movement refocused on the voices and experiences
 7

of upper-class white women undermines the opportunities for intersectional gender violence

activism. In consideration of these issues, this study will explore how mainstream media reported

the origins of the Me Too movement.

Although the current Me Too movement is perceived as an online movement started

through social media, it is intimately intertwined with mainstream media – a means of

communication such as television or newspapers which reach millions of people (Harcup, 2014).

McCombs, Shaw, and Weaver (2014) state that news outlets were once the primary means of

setting the public agenda, however, new research suggests that there is now a link between news

reporting and trends within social media. According to Broersma and Graham (2013),

occurrences on social media, Twitter specifically, not only generate news reports from

mainstream media but can also become the topic of news coverage from mainstream media

outlets. Mainstream media has been the primary platform by which information about and

around the #MeToo movement has been circulated (e.g., televised award shows, news outlets,

etc.), and as such, has also been implicated as a site that houses perpetrators and permits a culture

used to silence women (e.g., Hollywood). Even further, research has demonstrated that social

perceptions about women are shaped through the ideas and images presented by media outlets

(McCombs, 2004). Given this influence and the fact that African American women are more

likely to be sexually assaulted (Breiding, Smith, Basile, Walters, Chen, & Merrick, 2014F), it is

critical to understand better how the Me Too movement activism is being covered in mainstream

media reports. For the case of #MeToo, and because Tarana Burke was doing this activist work

to help young women of color long before the hashtag became popularized by Milano, the origin
 8

story of where and why the movement began is essential when thinking about how voice and

narratives factor into an activist agenda.

Next, I review research that demonstrates how all women, and more specifically African

American women, have been included or excluded in mainstream media print news reporting, I

draw from feminist standpoint theory to interpret this research and to illustrate how mainstream

media represents women. I close by outlining how I used a rhetorical perspective to both analyze

the reporting and consider the possible implications of my findings.

 9

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

The Me Too movement and the subsequent reporting of the movement have brought an

awareness of the social issues surrounding sexual harassment and sexual assault to the United

States. The greater public attention of these issues started with mainstream media. While the

#MeToo movement was primarily a phenomenon of social media – technologies and online

platforms individuals use to interact and share content (Chandler & Munday, 2016) – there is a

symbiotic relationship with mainstream media, partially because the reporting of the mainstream

media spread awareness and understanding of the movement. Before the internet (social media),

scholars argued that mainstream media set the agenda for public debate (McCombs, 2004).

Current research indicates that what is trending on the internet and social media can set the

public discussion as well as what is reported by the mainstream media, as they now intersect and

interact with each other creating a new nonlinear media (Aruguete, 2017). Meaning, what is

trending on social media will be included in mainstream media reporting, and what is prevalent

within mainstream media reporting will also become part of the trend on social media, both

intersecting to set the agenda for public debate.

Due to the high number of individuals using #MeToo across social media in such a brief

period, there was also a large volume of news reports from mainstream media focused on the

movement, not only about the hashtag but also about new accusations and other issues

surrounding the sexual harassment and sexual assault of women. As a result, the hashtag was

used on social media as a means to share personal stories and bring awareness to the vastness of
 10

the issue but was not the only means of reporting new information to the public. While there is

an apparent intersection between mainstream media reporting and social media in connection to

the #MeToo movement, in this project, I am not attending to the interactions or storytelling

which happened through social media. With social media, specifically Twitter, being context

poor by design, users are unable to gain a deep understanding of complicated stories or

background information. Therefore, I am concerned how the origins and contributions of African

American women were represented through mainstream media reports, specifically newsprint,

because this reporting potentially provided the public with a more profound and historically

grounded context for an important social issue. Therefore, the focus here will be on the framing

used in news reporting, about the movement.

Feminist Standpoint Theory

Feminist standpoint theory is considered a distinctive component of modern feminist

thought about how we construct knowledge (Longino, 1993; Allen, 1998). This theory is used by

scholars to investigate how patriarchy, the system in which males have historically controlled

the public sphere and domesticated women, has shaped the perceived realities of women in

addition to how reality itself is perceived (Castree, Kitchin, & Rogers, 2013). This discourse

seeks to intrude on the narratives of women in the patriarchal public sphere – a public space

founded on significant exclusions (Jackson, & Banaszczyk, 2016). Researchers of feminist

standpoint theory claim “we should solicit women's perspectives on social reality to construct

knowledge and to critique dominant knowledge claims (which usually are based on white men's

lives)” (Allen, 1998, p. 576). It is essential to consider how the public sphere is being reshaped

through a feminist standpoint, as it helps construct and maintain a shared knowledge of a

marginalized community while exposing issues and experiences of the dominant public sphere
 11

(Asen, 2000). Feminist standpoint theory promotes an understanding of the world from an

alternative perspective and is distinct from that of the dominant voice.

Collins (1990, 1997, & 1998) argued that African American women hold a “unique angle

of vision” of the social world because of their position in the hierarchies of race, gender, and

class. Black feminist standpoint theory is “rooted in the everyday experiences of black women”

with their standpoint “marked by an intersectional understanding of oppression and a legacy of

struggle against such oppression” (Harnois, 2010, p. 68). Harnois (2010) maintains that because

feminist standpoint theory “does not essentialize the category of ‘women,’” but rather seeks

stories from a variety of women, African American women belong to “two disenfranchised

groups” (a woman and a woman of color) (p. 69). As a result, African American women “may

enact the role of outsider or stranger differently from white women,” and therefore, should be

noticed as “valuable resources for acquiring a variety of perspectives and narratives about how

oppression operates and about how women resist oppression” (Harnois, 2010, p. 69). Feminist

standpoint theory can provide a foundation for looking critically at how social discourse about

gender violence activism is inclusive or dismissive of black women's voices and their

experiences (Collins, 1990).

In order to better understand the power dynamics and intersections of oppression around

gender violence in the #MeToo movement, it is essential to look at how women in general, and

more specifically African American women, have been included or excluded from mainstream

print news reporting. Communication scholars have employed feminist standpoint theory to

analyze how the white male perspective has dominated American mainstream media reporting.

For example, Johnston, Freidman, and Peach (2011) examined how the frames presented in

mainstream media news reports resulted in the idea that “women with political opinions are few
 12

and far between,” however, this perception is untrue (p, 270). While Harp, Loke, and Bachmann

(2011) argue that the perspectives of men have “long dominated” U.S. war news coverage as

their findings demonstrated that women’s perspectives were scarce, representing less than 10

percent of the subjects cited in wartime news reporting. In another study, Droogsma (2007)

detailed the portrayal of American Muslim women in mainstream media reporting, where they

were described as oppressed individuals because they wore a hijab. Yet, American Muslim

women viewed their headscarf as a tool for empowerment that challenged the ideas of femininity

set through U.S. patriarchal ideals (Droogsma, 2007).

Durham (1998) contended that there has been an established historical goal for

objectivity within American journalism. In the context of “contemporary mainstream

journalism” (Durham, 1998, p. 117) objectivity is an identifying feature and goal of journalists

within the United States, and as a result, this value has been adopted by journalists around the

world (Rosen, 1993). Nevertheless, Durham (1998) goes on to argue that the objective

journalistic standard excludes multicultural sources and leaves out “the various positions on an

issue…[that] have been structured along gender, class, racial, or other lines” (p. 136). This

implies that it is vital for journalism to include the narratives and experiences of all genders and

people of color. Without this diversity in news coverage, those in the majority are not exposed to

diverse life experiences and issues, while at the same time people of color are made to feel as if

their views are invalid or less important (Durham, 1998).

Johnston and Flamiano (2007) analyzed “large-circulation newspapers serving

communities of color” (p. 111). They suggested that diversity within news reporting cannot be

achieved until traditional news coverage allows people of color to represent newspapers and their

communities; racist traditions in news coverage are addressed and seen as having important news
 13

value; and until people of color occupy positions of power within the news industry (Johnston &

Flamiano, 2007). Additionally, Meyers and Gayle (2015) found that African American

journalists working in major metropolitan areas with a high African American population

worked to implement several strategies which resisted “normative constructions of race” in an

effort to promote “positive black images and voices in the news” (p. 292)

Finally, it seems relevant to explore past research examining sexual abuse through a

feminist standpoint lens. Dougherty (2001) claimed that women and men construct different

perceptions of sexual harassment in the workplace. Women perceived sexual harassment as a

dysfunctional act that made them feel isolated and uncomfortable. However, for men, the act of

harassing was a therapeutic way of coping with workplace stress and as a bonding mechanism

between co-workers (Dougherty, 2001). Taking a closer look at the sexual harassment of women

of color, Richardson and Taylor (2009) asserted that women of color “often experience sexual

and racial harassment concurrently” (p. 267). Meaning, the sexual harassment women of color

often faced was based “upon racial stereotypes or was carried out by powerful cultures (white

males) at the expense of marginalized cultures” (Richardson & Taylor, 2009, p. 267). Whereas

Bullock (2007) explored newspaper coverage of violence against women and how these stories

were often framed to embody a strong patriarchal culture.

Feminist standpoint theory gives us a better grasp of the marginalized place women hold

in society, particularly women of color, and allows for a “unique and significant view of the

world” that is not available to the dominant group (Araiza, 2014, p. 277). The review of literature

presented here indicates that “women have been excluded from men’s construction” of

mainstream media news reporting because the dominant discourse is framed through the world

view of white men (Araiza, 2014, p. 277).

 14

Purpose of the Study

Here, I consider these findings in the context of the Me Too movement. Therefore, I

propose the following research questions:

RQ 1: How were the origins of the Me Too movement represented in mainstream media

reporting?

RQ 2: In what ways did the reporting of the origins of the Me Too movement account for

the narratives of African American women?

Based on my review of literature about the marginalized place women hold within

mainstream media, and my interest in the reporting of Me Too movement, I use a framing

analysis to examine how the origins of the Me Too movement were initially reported in print

news. Keeping in mind the roots of the movement and Tarana Burke’s intention to provide a way

for African American girls and women to communicate personal accounts of sexual abuse to one

another, and understanding the positions women hold across mainstream media reporting, it is

critical to investigate how the mainstream media represents the origins of the Me Too movement

to either include or exclude the contributions of African American women.

 15

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Research has demonstrated that mediated depictions shape public opinion, individual

perceptions, and understandings of society and the resulting social scripts hold consequences for

particular bodies in society. To examine this phenomenon further, I apply a framing analysis to

assess the choice of language used in the news coverage describing the origins of the #MeToo

movement. Through this investigation, my goal is to better understand how the contributions of

African American women have been selected, deselected, or deemphasized in major newsprint

publications regarding the origins of the movement.

Framing helps society “to shape and alter” an assembly of narratives and perceived

realities through a connection of highlighted understandings and preferences of a particular

interpretation (Entman, 2007, p. 164). That is, by selecting certain frames the salience of certain

ideas will encourage “target audiences to think, feel, and decide” in a certain way based on the

information presented by the author (Entman, 2007, p. 164). This is done by highlighting aspects

of information to make the information “more noticeable, meaningful, or memorable to

audiences” which enhances the likelihood of perceiving and discerning information and storing

that information to memory (Entaman,1993, p. 53). Furthermore, frames also allow for

researchers to consider not only what has been highlighted but also what has been omitted from a

text, as the omissions of “explanations, evaluations, and recommendations may be as critical as

the inclusions in guiding the audience” while discerning information (Entman, 1993, p. 54).
 16

Mainstream media reporting maintains that all competing frames are treated equivalently

to ensure that their reports do not slant (Entman, 2007). Through an examination of news articles

from representative publications, I examine how three separate daily newspapers and two

monthly magazines used language to frame the origin narratives of the #MeToo movement as a

system of representation to define and make sense of the world (Foss, 2009). Framing makes the

most sense in this analysis because it focuses on both selection, what information has or has not

been included, and salience, what information has been emphasized. This allows me to go

beyond the “beliefs, values, and assumptions” the artifacts suggest by asking and answering

bigger questions about representation, ethnicity, and media (Foss, 2009, p. 209). By examining

and comparing news articles from a framing perspective, I can explore how the contributions,

narratives, and attributions of African American women have been included or excluded in the

reporting of the origins of the Me Too movement. Analyzing these texts through a framing lens

will help to identify and evaluate the “presence or absence of certain keywords, [phrases],

stereotyped images, sources of information, and sentences that” reinforce facts or societal

judgments (Entman, 1993, p. 52). Additionally, I use feminist standpoint theory as a sensitizing

lens for attending to the value and importance of this origin story as told by news media written

explicitly for African American audiences. This allows me to approach this research thinking

about how reporting from different publications might offer a more complete and inclusive view.

Publications

I analyzed print media coverage specifically detailing the origins of the Me Too

movement following the original Harvey Weinstein allegations report. More specifically, I

conducted a comparative study between the mainstream newspapers, The Los Angeles Times, Los
 17

Angeles Sentinel, and the Chicago Defender coverage from October 2017 through November

2017. In addition to these newspapers, I analyzed two monthly publications, The New Yorker and

Ebony magazine. With these magazines only printing one publication per month compared to the

daily publication of the newspapers analyzed, I extended the search of articles from the

magazines to October 2017 through December 2017 in order to widen the selection of items for

potential analysis.

All publications selected for comparison reported on the Me Too movement in the few

days and weeks following the original New York Times story. The Los Angeles Times was

selected because this news publication is the “largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the

country,” covering Southern California news and issues surrounding Hollywood, the source of

the accusations which prompted the online #MeToo movement (latimes.com, 2019).

Additionally, the publication claims that it “serves diverse audiences [and its] readers span every

demographic” reaching “more people than ever before” (latimes.com, 2019). Having a diverse

readership should result in the news coverage from the Los Angeles Times reflecting the voices

and narratives of a diverse population.

The Los Angeles Sentinel is also published in Southern California and is “the largest

publication on the west coast” focusing “primarily on African American content” and is owned

by an African American real estate developer (Blacknews.com, 2019). Considered a local

publication, the Chicago Defender was founded by Robert S. Abbot, an African American, and

has focused on local, national, and entertainment news for over 100 years with a predominantly

African American readership (PBS.org, 2019). These newspapers were selected because they are

both comparable to the Los Angeles Times in terms of size and subject matter, but are a unique

comparison for consideration because of the intended audience.

 18

The New Yorker is a publication geared toward those who live in New York City and is

circulated all over the world because it is “well-known for its in-depth reporting on political and

cultural” issues of our time (newyorker.com, 2019), and as such should also reflect the

perspectives and narratives of a diverse population. Ebony magazine has a circulation of almost

11 million monthly magazines and is considered to be “the authoritative perspective on the black

community” that “ignites conversation, promotes empowerment and celebrates aspiration” to its

predominantly African American readers (Ebony.com, 2019). Ebony magazine and The New

Yorker provide comparable publication because they are both similar in terms of size and subject

matter reported.

Potentially, news publications that are dedicated to prioritizing African American

experiences, issues, and perspectives will offer a more complete standpoint in that they are more

likely to include awareness of the dominant culture while also being mindful of minority voices.

Additionally, selecting publications written specifically for African American audiences can help

advance communication research and feminist standpoint theory’s commitment to seek out and

study diverse messages, voices, and publics.

During the initial search for news articles key terms, such as #MeToo, Harvey Weinstein,

Alyssa Milano, Tarana Burke, sexual assault and sexual harassment, were used to search for a

large sample of newsprint articles from each publication. After reading each article thoroughly,

the articles chosen for the final analysis directly or indirectly addressed the origins of the Me Too

movement. For example, some of the articles had simple accounts that state the #MeToo

movement was a result of the Weinstein allegations, while others included a more detailed

account of the origin story of Tarana Burke and her history within the movement. Table A

displays each publication selected for the study, the number of articles collected in the initial
 19

search using the key terms, the number of articles evaluated in the final analysis, and the

combined average word count for each publication’s articles.

Table A:

Newsprint articles Combined average

Newsprint articles addressing the word count for
Publications collected through origins of the selected newsprint
the initial search movement and were articles
analyzed

Los Angeles Times 21 10 1,226.1

Los Angeles
Sentinel & Chicago 16 6 869.5
Defender

The New Yorker 6 5 1533.4

Ebony 5 3 539.7

Authors Standpoint

Due to the topic and nature of this research, it seems relevant for me to also explain my

standpoint in writing this paper. Being a white, middle-class woman perusing a graduate degree

from a public university in Northern California, I recognize that I bring my perspectives and

experiences to this analysis. Further, I do not have the perspective of what it is to be a woman of

color. At the same time, my curiosity lays in gender and health communication research,

specifically, I work to understand how mainstream media and marketing messages relay or

communicate gender and race, how those messages are absorbed on the individual and societal

levels, and the possible health implications of those messages. It is my hope that through this

research and the research of others, we can all began to comprehend the importance of listening
 20

to the voices and experiences of marginalized groups so that we can progress to a more inclusive

future.
 21

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

In the days following the original New York Times article detailing the decades of

accusations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein, newspapers and magazines across the

country and the world were reporting on the aftermath of the allegations. Meaning, the

mainstream media was reporting on new accusations against powerful men – those in

Hollywood, politics, journalism, broadcasters, business and technology executives, and the like, -

the women who were making new allegations, and the aftermath of #MeToo. Most of the news

articles found through this analysis which talked about sexual harassment or sexual assault in

association with the controversy of the time gave an explanation or background information on

Harvey Weinstein and the Me Too campaign.

Los Angeles Times

After analyzing the Los Angeles Times articles, three frames emerged:

1. Alyssa Milano was the creator of the movement (Tarnopolsky & Ethehad, 2017).

2. The movement emerged because of the Weinstein accusations (Blake, 2017; Mejia,

2017; Garcia-Roberts, 2017; Mason & Ulloa, 2017; Panzar & Shalby, 2017; Rowe, 2017;

Ulloa, 2017; Whipp, 2017; Wire, 2017).

3. Tarana Burke established the #MeToo movement with Milano as a critical player

(D’Zurilla, 2017).

One of the Los Angeles Times articles framed the #MeToo movement as “Milano’s

campaign” (Tarnopolsky & Ethehad, 2017). An example of this can be found in the October 18,

2017 article titled, “A Global Primal Scream: #METOO”:

 22

Social media around the world responded with something like a primal scream to
American actress Alyssa Milano's Twitter request that women tell their stories of
sexual harassment or assault with the hashtag #MeToo. Milano's campaign grew out
of accusations by actresses against movie producer Harvey Weinstein, but instantly
touched a nerve among women in dozens of countries and all walks of life
(Tarnopolsky & Ethehad, 2017).

This particle article gives no mention to Burke or her previous work within the Me Too

movement. Therefore, Milano’s role in the movement is being made salient to the reader.

One of the first news articles published by the Los Angeles Times referencing the

movement also framed Alyssa Milano as the originator (D’Zurilla, 2017). The title alone, “In

saying #MeToo, Alyssa Milano pushes awareness campaign about sexual assault and

harassment,” suggests that Milano is responsible for the creation of the movement (D’Zurilla,

2017). The first few paragraphs of this particular news article detailed the role Milano played in

“initiating” the widespread participation in the online #MeToo movement with the article going

on to explain Tarana Burke’s role in the movement (D’Zurilla, 2017).

What is noteworthy here is the way the wording is framed by the newspaper to explain

Burke’s involvement in #MeToo. It was stated that Burke was “an organizer and youth worker

who’s a sexual assault survivor herself, [who] has been working on ‘me too’ since the mid-2000s

– particularly with young women of color- as a means of what she calls empowerment through

empathy” (D’Zurilla, 2017). The Los Angeles Times does not explicitly give recognition to

Tarana Burke for establishing or founding the grassroots movement over a decade ago but credits

her as an “organizer” and “worker” of the movement. The publication goes on to explain that

“the current campaign has morphed a bit from Burke’s work” because it now has “celebrities’

social media reach” behind the movement, something it lacked before (D’Zurilla, 2017).
 23

Here the publication is making salient the fact that the movement is no longer fulfilling

the goals Burke started with – a phrase used by women of color who have been sexually

assaulted to identify each other – but brings the reader’s attention to the role Milano and other

celebrities now play in the movement. This salience (Burke as a “worker,” not the creator)

expresses to the reader that Burke’s role, along with why and how the movement originated, is

not as important as the current role of celebrities within the movement. These word choices make

Milano’s contributions to the movement highly salient to the reader because they are unchanged

by the conflicting information given by the article.

There were nine additional Los Angeles Times articles (printed October 18, 2017, through

November 29, 2017) analyzed for this study, all of which were written after this first news

article. Within the first few paragraphs, most of these news articles made a direct correlation to

the Harvey Weinstein accusations and the Me Too movement by framing the movement as

“beginning” with (Blake, 2017; Wire, 2017), “revealed” after (Whipp, 2017), or “sparked by” the

Weinstein allegations (Ulloa, 2017). The repetition of these word choices and deselection of

Burke’s role in the origins of the movement, frames a narrative that #MeToo is a direct result of

Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct.

A further example of the salience used to make a direct connection to Weinstein, and the

movement can be found in the article titles, “Company town; Talent agent fired over sex

allegations” (Garcia-Roberts, 2017), which detailed the sexual assault allegations within a Los

Angeles talent agency. The article states, “The men said they were inspired to speak out as part

of the ‘#metoo’ campaign in which social media users have aired their experiences with alleged

sexual harassment in response to the unfolding scandal surrounding disgraced film mogul

Harvey Weinstein” (Garcia-Roberts, 2017, p. C1). Because the newspaper frames the story to
 24

link the #MeToo movement as a response to the “alleged sexual harassment…scandal

surrounding” Weinstein, while choosing to deselect (not reference) the impact Burke had on the

origins of the movement, this makes salient to the reader that the movement is a result of

Weinstein’s actions and not Burke’s past or current work.

Additionally, only two articles highlighted the significance of Tarana Burke’s role in the

origins of the #MeToo movement. Of these, one gives Burke direct credit for “establishing the

MeToo Movement” but only after mentioning Milano’s contribution (Tarnopolsky & Etehad,

2017), while the other article quoted Burke but gave no reference to the contributions she made

in the origins of the movement (Mejia, 2017). Although Burke’s role is mentioned in the first

news article, her contributions are made less salient because Alyssa Milano’s role is emphasized

in detail at the forefront of the article, with two short references to Burke’s work later in the

article (Tarnopolsky & Etehad, 2017).

Los Angeles Sentinel & Chicago Defender3

Through the analysis of the news articles from the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Chicago

Defender, three frames emerged:

1. The Harvey Weinstein accusations led to Milano’s tweet of “encouraging” women to

share through #MeToo (Blassai, 2017; Cannick, 2017).

2. Tarana Burke created the movement, but Milano popularized it (Preston, 2017).

3. Burke is the founder of the movement (“#MeToo Founder Tarana Burke,” 2017;

“Black woman, who is the original,” 2017; Cannick, 2017; Ziyad, 2017).

3 Although the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Chicago Defender are two separate news publication, the news articles analyzed for
this study have been combined, as both publications self-identify as writing for African American communities. This is solely for
the purpose of making the reporting on the findings easier.
 25

Within a few days after the initial New York Times coverage of the Weinstein accusations, the

Chicago Defender reported on Milano’s tweet and how individuals were responding to #MeToo.

Even though there was no indication or reference to Burke’s role in the origins of the Me Too

movement, the author did not frame Milano as an originator of the movement (Blassai, 2017).

Milano’s actions were made salient by describing her conduct as a means to “encourage women”

to share personal stories of sexual harassment and sexual assault. To the reader, this salience

suggests that Milano was urging participation within the movement but was not the creator of the

movement (Blassai, 2017).

Both the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Chicago Defender published news articles stating

that the sexual harassment and sexual assault allegation made against Weinstein resulted in the

Me Too movement. One of the Chicago Defender’s news articles also mentions Milano’s role in

“popularizing” the hashtag, but the salience to the reader was on Burke’s role in the origins of

the movement (Preston, 2017). Finally, both newspapers published news articles giving specific

details on the origins of the Me Too movement in relation to Tarana Burke’s role in the

conception of the movement (“Black woman, who is the original,” 2017; Preston, 2017; Ziyad,

2017).

The Chicago Defender and Los Angeles Sentinel both selected a frame of Tarana Burke

as the originator of the movement. The first line in one of the Los Angeles Sentinel articles states,

“The original creator of the #MeToo Campaign, Tarana Burke led over a thousand women in a

march and rally for survivors of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexual abuse through the

streets of Hollywood on Sunday” (“#MeToo Founder Tarana Burke”, 2017). The article goes on

to explain how the movement was started to help African American girls and women talk about

sexual assault, with no mention of Milano.

 26

What is most interesting in these articles is the way the publications use tone to frame the

story about Burke’s involvement in the origins of the movement. In the news article entitled

“Tarana Burke Was Omitted From The Time Magazine Cover, So Let’s Celebrate The Sh*t Out

Of Her Today!” it is made salient, through the title alone, that there is an injustice around

Burke’s contributions to the movement being excluded from other publications (Zayad, 2017).

Even though the article acknowledges that the nation became aware of the #MeToo movement as

a result of the accusations of Weinstein – with no mention of Milano - the salience in this

reporting is on the “black woman…[who] was the original creator of the #MeToo movement.”

There is a clear argument that the exclusion of Burke on the cover of Time Magazine's person of

the year edition, titled “Silence Breakers,” is a form of “white supremacy” (Ziyad, 2017). The

article states:

A Black woman creates something, and white people credit themselves for it, after
ignoring it for as long as possible…As with most good things, a Black woman named
Tarana Burke was the original creator of the #MeToo awareness movement, but you
would never know that from whom TIME chose to put on its cover…But we ain’t
mad. We expect this from white supremacy, and are past trying to put some lipstick
on that pig by begging them to pretend like they like us…Two months ago, the 44-
year-old activist told Ebony she began Me Too in 2006 as a grassroots movement to
aid sexual assault survivors in underprivileged communities “where rape crisis
centers and sexual assault workers weren’t going…‘It wasn’t built to be a viral
campaign or a hashtag that is here today and forgotten tomorrow…It was a
catchphrase to be used from survivor to survivor to let folks know that they were not
alone and that a movement for radical healing was happening and possible’ (Ziyad,
2017).

This makes salient that African Americans should expect such behavior from white people as

they often credit themselves for the achievements of African Americans (Ziyad, 2017). In paying

attention to news coverage that is written explicitly to an African American public, there is more

of a nuanced story being told around the activism of the movement: who it is for, and the biases

that are perpetuated through the reporting.

 27

The New Yorker

There were two frames selected in the New Yorker articles:

1. Milano started the #MeToo online movement because of the Weinstein accusations

with credit granted to Burke for her contribution (Schwartz, 2017).

2. “Me Too” has been in the making for several years through critical players such as

Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly, and others, but the movement gained urgency

through Weinstein (Farrow, 2017; Mead, 2017; Remnick, 2017; Tolentino. 2017).

Of the five New Yorker articles analyzed, one mentions Tarana Burke and her

contributions to the origins of the #MeToo movement (Schwartz, 2017). This news article began

with a description of Milano’s Twitter post and its influence on the movement because of

Weinstein’s actions, while highlighting the societal influence of the movement, followed by

Tarana Burke’s contributions to the origins of the movement.

Here the publication describes Burke’s “Me Too” as a “campaign to help young women

of color” rather than to describe it as a movement (Schwartz, 2017). Although several of the

articles analyzed here use the words campaign and movement interchangeable, this article makes

a clear distinction between the two by selecting to write, “Tarana Burke…began a “Me Too”

campaign” a decade ago (Schwartz, 2017). The salience of word choice used in this news article

could lead readers to believe Burke’s contributions are not as important. In identifying Burke’s

“Me Too” as a campaign, the author used Burke’s own words to suggest that her work had “the

power of empathy to stomp out shame” for “young women of color who had been subjected to

abuse” (Schwartz, 2017). Whereas Weinstein’s “disgrace” led to Milano’s Twitter post and

resulted in a “sheer number of women rallying behind…a gutting universal truth” (Schwartz,

2017). The salience in this distinction is signifying that Burke’s previous work was less
 28

meaningful because it was a “campaign” meant for “young women of color,” whereas Milano’s

hashtag has a higher social significance because it became a widespread collective action that is

trying to solve a larger social issue for all women (Schwartz, 2017). By bring together feminist

standpoint theory and framing this frame allows us to draw our attention to what is excluded by

examining whose stories are not told or validated.

One other noteworthy frame which emerged through this analysis was the argument that

the Me Too movement started even before the Weinstein accusations, not because of Burke, but

because of the repeated acts of sexual assault at the hands of powerful men. All but one of the

New Yorker articles and numerous Los Angeles Times articles explained a timeline through the

past several years, which looked at the accusations of sexual assault from men in positions of

power such as Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, R. Kelly, Bill O’Reilly, and Harvey Weinstein. One

such article states, “For years—for centuries—the economic, physical, and cultural subjugation

of women has registered as something like white noise…In the past few years, women have

accused Bill Cosby, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, and Donald Trump of serial sexual misconduct”

and “finally” after the Weinstein allegations did society start to listen (Tolentino, 2017). In that,

the Me Too movement was a result of the Weinstein allegations; however, the movement had

been gaining momentum for some time because of these key players and the attention their cases

received in mainstream media reporting, not because of Burke’s past work.

The reparative selection of this attempts to give the reader a narrative that the movement

was a combination of these events that gained urgency through the Weinstein accusations. What

these reports left out is an explanation or mention of Burke’s grassroots movement. If the real

argument here is that the #MeToo movement is the result of a long history of sexual assault on

women, then why deselect Tarana Burke’s past work in using the phrase “Me Too” to help
 29

sexual assault victims? The salience of adding in Burke’s narrative would not only advance the

argument but would also bring awareness to a more significant social issue, that of the higher

rates at which women of color experience sexual assault. By adding in the narratives and

standpoint of African American women through a description of Burke’s past work within the

movement, then the reader is given a more complete story; one that is more inclusive as we often

leave out the voices of minority groups.

Ebony

In the three articles analyzed from Ebony magazine, all selected to credit Tarana Burke as the

“founder” of the Me Too movement (Bennett, 2017; Hill, 2017; Hill, 2017). One article, in

particular, did give credit to Alyssa Milano for “igniting the [#MeToo] conversation” on social

media after the Weinstein reports; nevertheless, it did go into detail about Burk’s past and current

work within the movement (Hill, 2017). There are two frames Ebony selected in this article.

First, although Burke is the founder of the movement, “she hardly receives any credit” for her

work (Hill, 2017). This led to the second frame, that “black women regularly experience sexual

assault as well [as white women] and are often coerced into silence,” but are being left out of the

current #MeToo movement (Hill, 2017). The salience here is suggesting to the reader that white

women have popularized the movement and as a result suppressed the voices of women of color

- who are also victims of sexual assault - in a movement that was created by and for them, which

is what Burke and other women of color have been arguing.

Two of the three Ebony magazine articles analyzed mention Tarana Burke as the

“founder” of the Me Too movement, and even then, these news articles frame the origins of the

#MeToo movement carefully by writing, “Harvey Weinstein was discovered to be a Hollywood

predator…this brought to light the current #MeToo movement” (Bennett, 2018). Here the words
 30

“brought to light” and a hyperlink (online article only) attached to the words “#MeToo

movement” which directs the reader to another news article about Tarana Burke’s past and

current work, make salient to the reader that Burke is the originator of the movement,

consequently giving her credit without directly stating so.

 31

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Discussion

This project contributes to the development of feminist standpoint theory as an analytical

framework and builds on the theory’s commitment to valuing the narratives of marginalized

communities (Asen, 2000) while also contributing to feminist research and activism by offering a

standpoint analysis of diverse voices in newsprint coverage. Findings from my frame analysis of

the newspaper coverage on the origins of the Me Too movement supports past research findings

of publications claiming to serve diverse audiences: the Los Angeles Times and the New Yorker.

It has been established that women, especially women of color, have been excluded from news

coverage in several ways because the dominant discourse has been framed around the views of

white men (Araiza, 2014; Bullock, 2007; Dougherty,2001; Johnson & Flamiano, 2007). Findings

here indicate that the Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker both selected to emphasize the

roles of powerful men and other celebrities in the creation of the #MeToo movement.

Framing the origins of the Me Too movement as beginning with the Harvey Weinstein

accusations, whether including Milano or not, situates Weinstein as the catalyst moment of the

current movement. This perpetuates an idea that it was because of Weinstein (a white male) that

the movement started, however, this movement would not have been possible without all of the

other momentum behind it, specifically Tarana Burke and the other women who have played an

ongoing role in the Me Too movement. Perpetuating a frame that attributes the origins of this
 32

movement to white males, continues to grant Weinstein and other men powerful men the ability

to continue to victimize women.

Even as these men are held accountable through the accusations of their accusers, they

are still dominating the conversation and reporting on a movement that predominantly benefits

women and issues which significantly impacts the health and wellbeing of women. By

deselecting the history of the movement regarding African American girls and women, the

audience is given a homogeneous account of the origins in mainstream media reporting. This

results in fewer perspectives because only those who are white and powerful are represented and

thus perpetuating a dominant white patriarchal framing of our reality (Castree, Kitchin, &

Rogers, 2013). In this case, the implications of this frame is that it communicates that we, as a

society, only care about sexual assault victims if they are white, beautiful, and successful.

Ultimately, this exclusionary story gives the perception that sexual assault activism is conserved

for the safety of white women exclusively.

Framing the Me Too movement as a direct correlation to the Harvey Weinstein sexual

assault allegations leaves African American women out of the narrative altogether. In this frame,

the audience is provided with one perspective of thought by reproducing the patriarchal

dominant public discourse and eliminates the unique understandings and experiences of those

who have historically been oppressed in America (Collins, 1990, 1997, & 1998; Harnois, 2010).

Using this frame, journalists are persevering a deep-seated white patriarchal culture where

women and men continue to have different perceptions of sexual harassment (Dougherty, 2001),

and where news coverage continues its traditional reporting of violence against women (Bullock,

2007). By excluding the contributions of women to the movement, it is further isolating women

for a societal dysfunction which impacts the health of society.

 33

I argue that a frame which emphasizes, sexual predators as an inspiration of the Me Too

movement, perpetuates past oppressive ideas because we used communication that we, as a

society, only care about the safety of women at the point when it impacts powerful men. If the

accusations against Weinstein and other men had not been present in mainstream media

reporting, then women may not have been granted the opportunity to be a part of the public

discourse around an issue that is so impactful to their lives. When news media chooses to

deselect the contributions of certain women, it gives the perception that not only have men

shaped this problem through their action in taking advantage of women, but they are now

allowing women to take part in the public conversation around the issue by allowing the

conversation to be present. This frame is detrimental to society as it is leaving out various

positions on a societal issue (sexual assault and violence against women) as these frames are

only representing the understandings of dominant voices.

Before examining the second frame, Milano as the originator, it seems essential to

mention Alyssa Milano’s role in the current social media #MeToo movement. I do recognize, as

do all of the publication analyzed here, that Milano can be credited with the widespread

awareness of the Me Too movement and that she should be given credit for launching the

popularity of the online portion of the movement. However, two days after her initial #MeToo

tweet, Milano publicly recognized Tarana Burke’s past work in the origins of the movement by

stating, “What the Me Too campaign really does, and what Tarana Burke has really enabled us to

do, is put the focus back on the victims” (Garcia, 2017). Although it is vital to recognize

Milano’s role in popularizing the movement, her version of what is happening in this activism is

not the most important story because her role is not the whole story.
 34

Attributing the origins of the Me Too movement to Milano erases, African American

women and girls from the narrative. Likewise, recognizing Tarana Burke’s work as an

“organizer” of the movement instead of its creator demises this particular narrative (D’Zurilla).

More widely, the focus on Burke as an “organizer” of the movement versus the “originator” of

the movement causes an eraser of black women’s voices within this activist movement. Although

some of the publications analyzed, use these frames that give women credit, the salience given

through the traditional news organizations (Los Angeles Times and the New Yorker) allows past

dominant conventions to continue to shape the audience’s understandings while continuing to

suppress a minority voice and perspective (Castree, Kitchin, & Rogers, 2013; Harnois, 2010).

This is important to note because prominent figures like Tarana Burke have argued that black

women and girls are now being isolated from a movement created by and for them and my

findings corroborate these claims. Eliminating this alternative perspective or discounting their

accounts, continues to position women of color as outsiders in a movement created for and by

them, while also perpetuating past white patriarchal ideas (Harnois, 2010). This tendency is

troubling because excluding marginalized voices and experiences from mainstream news reports

means women of color are excluded from important conversations about sexual violence against

women that are central to individual and collective health.

In contrast to the publications detailed above, there is a noticeable shift in the nature and

content of the narrative told around the origins of the movement in publications that provide

content to a predominantly African American readership. These publications (Los Angeles

Sentinel, Chicago Defender, and Ebony) frame Tarana Burke as the originator of the Me Too

movement. This salience goes against the dominant white discourse by giving the audience a

broader scope of the movement and its roots, while presenting a minority voice (Collins, 1990),
 35

thus allowing the publications to critique dominant knowledge (Allen, 1998). Not only is there

an emphasis on Tarana Burke’s work, but also an understanding of why the movement is critical

to African American women. Feminist standpoint theory argues that it is essential that we re-

center around the voice of Tarana Burke and other African American women in connection to

the Me Too movement because this allows for a more whole perspective and allows for us to see

what a more inclusive Me Too movement can look like. As Tarana Burke notes, “I also think

many times when white women want our support, they use an umbrella of ‘women supporting

women’ and forget that they didn’t lend the same kind of support [when the issue was only

contained within the African American community]” (Hill, 2017). With this vital piece missing

from the other publications that have a wider reach, means the audience is limited to an

alternative understanding and perspective. This limited view means society largely misses an

opportunity to bring a broader awareness to the issue of sexual assault, an issue that does not just

occur among celebrities or white women but affects ordinary women and men of all genders and

race. This being said, as noted earlier, the issue does disproportionately affect African American

women, and so a limited view is also an inaccurate view when it comes to this issue specifically.

This project has focused on some publications that highlight the voices of those we

should notice and take into consideration for a better standard for what we are missing and what

needs to be included to tell a more complete story. Communication practices that appear

objective, such as news reporting, may be taken for granted or go unexplored because audiences

do not necessarily look for or think about omissions. Meaning, when certain voices are left out of

news coverage, wider audiences may not ever really sense what they are missing. Feminist

standpoint theory argues that we need to value the narratives of diverse voices and value what

these voices say more than what currently has traction within public discourse because these
 36

voices uniquely understand both the black female perspective and the white mainstream

perspective as a deeper and more informed level (Collins, 1990, 1997, 1998, & 2011).

By looking at a current social issue that is central to feminist activism during a critical

moment in history and making diverse voices more visible, this project responds to calls for a

more intersectional perspective on gender violence and builds on a feminist standpoint theory’s

commitment to value diverse narratives and voices. As Porter (2015) notes, it is crucial to value

diverse voices especially in the context of the narratives of sexual violence and trauma because

of the “ways women are silenced by shame” and because sharing narratives help survivors

“retain self-respect”; telling stories is a “strategy of survival” (p. 35).

Conclusions

This study has focused on the frames used by mainstream media print news to report

about the origins of the Me Too movement. My findings suggest that some publications continue

to perpetuate the discourse of the patriarchal white public sphere, and there was also evidence

that other publications are working to disrupt this discourse by including the perspectives of

women and women of color.

Limitations

There are limitations to this study. The sample size for this study is small and cannot

provide evidence for generalizable claims for the totality of the coverage. Additionally, the

quantity of the articles found in the Los Angeles Times was significantly more than the quantity

of the articles found in the Los Angeles Sentinel, so I had to choose two different African

American publications to get a more equitable number of articles. This means there are

limitations in my comparative study design as well.

Future Research
 37

This study has focused on the reporting of the Me Too movement, but several areas can

be explored in future research. First, third-wave feminism has been about doing more

intersectional research (Collins, 2015). This research speaks to that by looking at the ways some

news coverage (Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker) has perpetuated a second wave white

feminist perspective and also the way some publications (Los Angeles Sentinel, Chicago

Defender, and Ebony) offer a different perspective. As a next step in this line of work, it seems

necessary to further analyze niche media that target diverse and minority audiences. Doing so

facilitate more inclusive reporting and sets a better benchmark of what more comprehensive

reporting should look like. Second, this research is specifically focused on the minority voices

and experiences of African American women, but this is also likely an issue for other women of

color. Future research should consider how women of color and other minority groups, such as

the LGBTQ+ community, are represented or not in the dominate #MeToo narrative because

without their voices the Me Too narrative remains incomplete.

 38

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