#HimToo and the networking of misogyny in the age of #MeToo. Issue 8 (16th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boyle, Karen; Rathnayake, Chamil
• Is Part Of: Feminist media studies. Volume 20:Issue 8(2020)
• Page Start: 1259
• Page End: 1277
• Publication Date: 2020-11-16
• Subjects: Twitter -- #HimToo -- #MeToo -- connectivity -- men's violence against women; Feminism -- Periodicals; Women in mass media -- Periodicals; Mass media and women -- Periodicals; Feminist criticism -- Periodicals; Mass media and sex -- Periodicals; 302.23082
• DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2019.1661868
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-0777

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article brings together a quantitative approach which seeks to map and understand actor centrality and connectivity in relation to Twitter using social network analysis, with a qualitative set of interdisciplinary concerns around media representations of men's sexual violence against women. Our focus is #HimToo, a short-lived Twitter-backlash to #MeToo concentrated around the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and confirmation. We explore how #HimToo flourished and floundered across two key periods: the first related to the broadcast confirmation hearings; the second a backlash triggered by a Kavanaugh-supporting mom. With a dataset of over 277, 000 Tweets, we argue that the first period shows an actor-centric conservative engagement which is dominated by female commentators, but displays a male orientation. The second period presents both a serious and satirical response to the first. Whilst there is a significant reorientation of both activity and actors in this second period, we identify persistent gendered and generational patterns which warrant a more cautious response from feminist critics. We thus connect our analysis to debates about social media connectedness, gendered patterns of social media ab/use, and the role of social media in a highly polarised political climate in the USA.