Prashant Prasad

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This essay analyses the role civic participation in the #MeToo campaign has played in raising
awareness and producing change in Australia. By exploring the link between digital culture
and civic engagement, evaluating the varied ways Australian citizens participated in #MeToo
and examining the change produced as a result of representation, this essay deems the role of
civic participation as a fundamental part in raising awareness about sexual harassment.

In the context of the #MeToo movement, civic participation entails the opportunity and right
for survivors of sexual harassment and assault to freely ‘question the founding framework’ of
existing laws, institutions and procedures which allowed for the harassment to occur in the
first place (Macduff 2014). Survivors must be able to share and discuss their experiences in a
safe space to raise awareness on the prevalence of sexual assault across industries and class.
Such civic participation occurs through networked ‘social movements’ such as the #MeToo
campaign where ‘people seek to achieve change in their community’ and government through
‘collective action’ via the utilisation of new media (Byrne 2016).

The crucial link between digital culture and civic engagement through the application of
technology and social media has revolutionised the way awareness and change are produced.
This is evident through the #MeToo campaign initiated by African American women’s right
activist Tarana Burke in 2006, a movement, as Burke says herself, ‘based on empathy
between survivors’ (TED 2019, 14:59). The #MeToo campaign ‘gained global notoriety on
social media’, spreading to Australia through diverse media platforms such as Twitter,
allowing many citizens to “speak out” about their sexual harassment experiences (Haskin
2018, para. 2). Manikonda et al. (2018) asserts social media enables citizens the opportunity
to partake in digital activism while ‘maintaining privacy in self-disclosing their true feelings
and physical conditions’. This method of participation ‘allows survivors to seek support and
act in solidarity with each other’, and hence ‘discuss issues and work collectively to influence
and shape their society’, a key component in civic engagement (Fileborn, Loney-Howes &
Hindes 2018; Kenny 2004). By providing ‘safer and easier spaces’ to share experiences about
sexual harassment, Mendes, Ringrose and Keller (2018) argue Twitter provides ‘knowledge
and opportunities for learning and dialogue’ that was previously not possible. In this manner,
social media paved a new form of education about sexual harassment. Furthermore, by
building ‘both individual and collective feminist consciousness’ media tools permit the
questioning of the underlying issues behind sexual violence such as Australia’s defamation
laws, which are discussed in detail below (Mendes, Ringrose & Keller 2018, pp. 240-243).

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Hence, by creating a collective and safe space, the utilisation of social media has ‘made a
huge difference for #MeToo’, making it ‘easier to spread the word’ in raising awareness
about sexual harassment (Zarkov & Davis 2018, p. 6).

Civic participation in the #MeToo movement by Australian journalists have had a substantial
impact in raising awareness of Australia’s stringent defamation laws. Journalists are
‘permitted to care deeply’ in order to augment and ‘revive civic life and public dialogue’. By
creating a ‘coherent response’ to the ‘deepening troubles’ of civic climate, journalists are
crucial in voicing their societies concerns (Rosen, cited in Hippocrates and Lloyd 1997 pp. 9-
20). Journalists such as Tracey Spicer ‘articulate and draw attention to’ the ‘underlying
causes of sexual violence’, especially to Australia’s ‘strict defamation laws’ which limit how
survivors can speak out (Fileborn, Loney-Howes & Hindes 2019, p. 5). In America, the
figure who is believed to be defamed must prove the defaming statement false. On the other
hand, Australia’s strict defamation laws constitute the person who made the claim of
defamation must prove their truth, rather than the accused. As a result, Australia’s defamation
laws are ‘discouraging’ people to speak up as it ‘doesn’t provide the same amount of
protection’ as that of the USA (Dawson, quoted in UTS 2018). For example, awareness
raised by Australian journalists such as Tracey Spicer and Jenna Price have drawn attention
to Australia’s ‘poorly equipped’ defamation laws (Rigby 2018, para. 4).
Tracey Spicer, a renowned journalist and #MeToo advocate, has continually argued how
the stringent defamation laws in Australia make it highly difficult to ‘tell these stories’ of
abuse. According to Spicer in Burfitt (2017), the fact that the infamous Geoffrey Rush case is
being judged on the way it came to light through a published article rather than the allegation
itself, highlights that Australia’s defamation laws limit exposure as ‘women fear that if they
speak out, they will never work again’(Spicer, quoted in Burfitt 2017, para. 9). This is further
supported by the UTS Centre for Social Justice (2018) who claim many media outlets are
‘intimidated by the threat of defamation’, arguing that the ‘iconic’ Weinstein case would ‘not
have seen the light of day’ in Australia (UTS 2018). Moreover, Australian journalist Jenna
Price has fervently argued how the risk of defamation intimidates women into silence. Price
(2018) states the ‘freedoms available to journalists in the US’ are unavailable to those is
Australia as a result of our defamation laws, consequently affecting the ‘most vulnerable…
victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment’ (Price 2018, para. 6). Therefore, this clear
link between Australia’s strict defamation laws and women’s ability to speak up exemplify

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how civic participation by Australian journalists has risen awareness in the #MeToo
campaign.

Civic participation through expression of public opinion can have the ability to inherently
influence institutional and workplace policies. This is evident in the #MeToo campaign
where the participation of citizens via media platforms to ‘coordinate, collaborate and build
relationships’ based on the ‘aggregation of the public voice of individuals’, surface opinions
such as the injustice of sexual harassment in environments like the workplace (Leighninger
2011; Rheingold 2008). This discourse about basic human rights and shared experiences of
sexual harassment injustices, reinforced by online platforms that were viewed by many
citizens as ‘safer and easier spaces for engaging in activism’ than in ‘places such as
workplaces, [and] schools’, enabled conversation about workplace and institutional policies
(Mendes, Ringrose & Keller 2018, pp. 243-244). Former gender advisor to the Australian
Defence Force, Julie Mckay, cited in Tuohy (2018), notes employers are ‘placing increased
importance on the issue of sexual harassment’ as a result of the ‘greater awareness’ raised
from such civic engagement. Furthermore, Mckay goes on to say more clients are asking
‘how to ensure polices are robust’ in the workplace (Tuohy 2018). This increased
investigation into Australian workplace policies is further supported by the 2018 national
twelve-month inquiry led by the Australian Human Rights Commission. The inquiry which
sought to outline the ‘prevalence, nature and reporting of sexual harassment’ in Australian
workplaces had an increased number of 10,000 participants – five times the number of people
in previous years. Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins says this ‘huge surge in
public concern…generated by the #MeToo movement’ will ‘help to understand the
dimensions of sexual harassment’ in the Australian workplace, and consequently, compel
employers and institutions to ‘take action to change’ the social inequalities that contribute to
these cases of sexual harassment (Australian Human Rights Commission 2018).
In addition to workplace policy revisions, further change as a result of increased civic
engagement is evident in the reformed policies of educational institutions. As the rates of
sexual harassment were the highest among people aged between 18 and 29 years, this change
is crucial to the cases (or potential cases) of assaults in educational establishments such as
universities (Australian Human Rights Commission 2018). For example, according to the
NSW Education Minister Robe Stokes, the #MeToo movement provided new opportunities
for teachers to have ‘open and frank’ conversations with their students (Moran 2018).
Additionally, in 2017 the Australian Human Rights Commission was encouraged to conduct

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a national report on sexual harassment and assaults in Australian universities. Due to this
inquiry, many universities introduced mandatory courses on sexual consent for new students.
As a result, the ‘momentum and accompanying increased public awareness’ subsequent of
the expression of public opinion and participation has contributed substantially to the revision
of workplace and institutional policies and procedures (Feltham & Corcoran 2018, para. 3).

The exclusion of minority representation in the conversation about sexual harassment is a

major critique of the #MeToo movement. Many have criticised the movement for centring
‘on the experiences of white western women’ rather than a collective approach to include
women of colour, Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, trans men and women and
non-forming subjects and queers of colour (Gill & Orgad 2018, p. 1318). That said,
participation by minorities at both grassroots and global levels have significantly increased
awareness of their experiences. In response to the increased number of referrals to the Alice
Spring’s Women’s shelter, CEO Di Gipey seeks to highlight Indigenous women’s
experiences ‘for the rest of the world’ through ‘education and support’ for Aboriginal women
who ‘want to have that voice as well’ (Gipey, quoted in Haskin 2018, para. 5-8).
Additionally, visibility created by celebrated non-white figures such as Oprah Winfrey and
Salma Hayek, who use their ‘platform for building feminist solidarity across class, race and
sexuality’ bring focus to those the movement ‘renders invisible and unintelligible’. Therefore,
in creating a collective voice which ‘cross lines of stratification’, participation by the under-
represented have increased awareness on the shortcomings of #MeToo movement (Gill &
Orgad 2018, pp. 1317-1320).

In conclusion, civic participation through social media platforms, advocation by leading

Australian journalists, expression of public opinion and representation of minorities has
inherently contributed to the change and awareness of women disclosing incidents of sexual
assault in Australia.

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