The #MeToo Movement and Perceptions of Sexual Assault: College Students' Recognition of Sexual Assault Experiences Over Time.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

On October 15, 2017, Alyssa Milano encouraged anyone who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to respond on Twitter with the phrase, #MeToo. Millions responded and a cultural reckoning ensued. Anecdotally, the #MeToo movement appears to have affected survivors' acceptance and acknowledgment of their own sexual assault experiences, but empirical evidence is lacking. To address this gap, the aim of this study was to examine associations between behavioral and labeled reports of sexual assault and time since the #MeToo movement began.

Methods

Participants were 2,566 college students who completed a sexual assault survey over the course of three years, overlapping with the onset of the #MeToo movement.

Results

Regarding our hypothesis that the prevalence of s

SUBMITTER: Jaffe AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8713172 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature