#RiceBunny: a content analysis of the

#MeToo Movement in East Asia

Kseniia Andreeva

2019
 Research context
• Originated in 2006, when Tarana Burke created
the campaign to reach sexual assault survivors in
underprivileged communities and help women
and girls in color.

• In October 2017 The New York Times published

a scandalous report, accusing Harvey Weinstein
of 30 years of sexually harassing and paying 8
settlements to actresses and female Miramax and
Weinstein Company production assistants and
temporary employees.

• Alyssa Milano made a tweet, encouraging spreading the hashtag #MeToo, to draw attention to
sexual assault and harassment.
Literature Review
▪ Newly emerged topic, still not widely researched.
▪ The majority of the literature on the subject examines the #MeToo Movement
and its general impact, mainly in the West, without focusing on Asia.

▪ R.Q. 1: How the #MeToo Movement in East Asia is different from its Western
counterpart?
▪ R.Q. 2: How the manifestations of the #MeToo Movement differ in China,
South Korea and Japan?
 Methodology
▪ Qualitative content analysis approach as the most common among qualitative
articles analyzing Social Networking sites data.
▪ Systematical summary and identification of prominent key themes of original
content posts regarding the #MeToo Movement in China, South Korea and Japan
made between October 2017, when the #MeToo hashtag started to spread, and
May 2019.
▪ The data is going to be collected from various Social Networking Sites (Twitter,
Facebook, Weibo, Zhihu).
▪ Hashtags: #MeToo, #TimesUp, #MeTooChina, # 我也是 , #Woyeshi, #MeToo
在中国 , #MeToozaizhongguo, #MeTooinChina, #MiTu, #RiceBunny,
#MeTooKorea, # 나도당했다 , # 미투 , #MeTooJapan, # 私も , #WatashiMo
 What are the main features of the #MeToo Movement in East Asia?

▪ On Chinese social networks, women use such hashtags as #WoYeShi, #Mitu, or #RiceBunny in
order to dodge government censorship.

▪ In South Korea the #MeToo has become more than just a Social Media movement, it is a cultural
phenomenon transforming the South Korean patriarchal society.

▪ Most of the Japanese women still keep silent because the pressure of country’s customs does not
let them speak up. However, even in Japan activists encouraging the #MeToo Movement are
starting to appear.
Significance
Thank you for your attention