ABSTRACT

After the tremendous response to actor Alyssa Milano’s 2017 #MeToo tweet, U.S. television series began incorporating explicit #MeToo episodes. As feminist scholars amply demonstrate, television has a poor history of portraying feminist activism—especially sexual assault activism, often dramatizing rape myths that undermine feminism and survivors. In this analysis, we draw on sexual assault activism and #MeToo scholarship to survey television’s #MeToo episodes. Specifically, we demonstrate how television’s popular fictional genres—from sitcoms to medical dramas—portray sexual violence and #MeToo activism, attending to (1) whether the episode individualizes sexual violence or reveals its structural nature, (2) how the episode portrays disclosures of sexual violence, and (3) how the episode portrays bystanders’ responses to sexual violence. Ultimately, our analysis traces the influence of popular feminism, demonstrating significant progress in the ways episodic programming portrays sexual harm.

摘要

在演员艾莉莎·米兰诺 (Alyssa Milano) 2017 年的#MeToo 推文获得巨大反响后，美国电视剧开始加入露骨的#MeToo 剧集。正如女权主义学者充分证明的那样，电视在描绘女权主义激进主义方面历史不佳——尤其是性侵犯激进主义，经常戏剧化破坏女权主义和幸存者的强奸神话。在此分析中，我们利用性侵犯激进主义和#MeToo 奖学金来调查电视的#MeToo 剧集。具体来说，我们展示了电视的流行虚构类型——从情景喜剧到医疗剧——如何描绘性暴力和#MeToo 激进主义，关注 (1) 该剧集是将性暴力个性化还是揭示其结构性质，(2) 该剧集如何描述性暴力的披露性暴力，以及 (3) 这一集如何描绘旁观者对性暴力的反应。