Ulrika Andersson
Professor
The #metoo momentum and its aftermath: digital justice seeking and societal and legal responses
Författare
Summary, in English
In this paper we present an outline of a research project that will be carried out in 2019 – 2021. Below we give a short summary of the project.
Summary
The flood of #metoo witness narratives has demonstrated the pervasiveness of sexual abuse. Yet, #metoo has also made visible different understandings of justice. The campaign against sexual harassment and violence has brought to the fore tensions between justice from the perspective of victims and justice from a formal legal perspective. On the one hand, online forums have offered victims a place for validation, recognition, and perpetrator accountability not offered by the criminal justice system. On the other hand, critics have voiced how the campaign lacks respect for individual rights and individual integrity, particularly regarding practices of “shaming” and stigmatization of perpetrators outside the legal system. Between these terrains of justice, formal legality and informal demands for justice voiced by victims a major justice gap can be identified.
The overarching purpose of the project is to work towards developing a framework for understanding justice in relation to sexual harassment and violence. While critical in its investigative approach, the project will seek to develop a constructive way out of the justice impasse the #metoo campaign brings to the fore. The project mainly explores the Swedish incarnation of the campaign, with some comparative #metoo UK/Sweden elements to highlight national differences.
Our project explores emerging conceptualizations of justice emanating from the digital #metoo campaign. Further, we will investigate how the victims’ demands are responded to by mainstream media, law, and policy. How does #metoo bring about new conceptualizations of justice and how are efforts made by key actors to lessen the justice gap that the #metoo campaign highlights?
To answer these overarching questions we employ both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Concretely, we will study: 1) the demands for justice within the #metoo witness narratives 2) mainstream media’s framing of the campaign 3) various stakeholders’ policy suggestions and possible legal amendments 4) police investigations, prosecutors’ decisions and court judgements.
The project is carried out by a research team of scholars from the Legal and Social Sciences at Lund University, Sweden (Ulrika Andersson, Lena Karlsson and Linnea Wegerstad) and Durham University, UK (Clare McGlynn).
Summary
The flood of #metoo witness narratives has demonstrated the pervasiveness of sexual abuse. Yet, #metoo has also made visible different understandings of justice. The campaign against sexual harassment and violence has brought to the fore tensions between justice from the perspective of victims and justice from a formal legal perspective. On the one hand, online forums have offered victims a place for validation, recognition, and perpetrator accountability not offered by the criminal justice system. On the other hand, critics have voiced how the campaign lacks respect for individual rights and individual integrity, particularly regarding practices of “shaming” and stigmatization of perpetrators outside the legal system. Between these terrains of justice, formal legality and informal demands for justice voiced by victims a major justice gap can be identified.
The overarching purpose of the project is to work towards developing a framework for understanding justice in relation to sexual harassment and violence. While critical in its investigative approach, the project will seek to develop a constructive way out of the justice impasse the #metoo campaign brings to the fore. The project mainly explores the Swedish incarnation of the campaign, with some comparative #metoo UK/Sweden elements to highlight national differences.
Our project explores emerging conceptualizations of justice emanating from the digital #metoo campaign. Further, we will investigate how the victims’ demands are responded to by mainstream media, law, and policy. How does #metoo bring about new conceptualizations of justice and how are efforts made by key actors to lessen the justice gap that the #metoo campaign highlights?
To answer these overarching questions we employ both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Concretely, we will study: 1) the demands for justice within the #metoo witness narratives 2) mainstream media’s framing of the campaign 3) various stakeholders’ policy suggestions and possible legal amendments 4) police investigations, prosecutors’ decisions and court judgements.
The project is carried out by a research team of scholars from the Legal and Social Sciences at Lund University, Sweden (Ulrika Andersson, Lena Karlsson and Linnea Wegerstad) and Durham University, UK (Clare McGlynn).
Avdelning/ar
- Rätt och utsatthet
- Juridiska institutionen
- Mänskliga rättigheter
Publiceringsår
2019
Språk
Svenska
Dokumenttyp
Konferens - annat
Ämne
- Law
Nyckelord
- Juridik
- Law
Conference name
Justice for all? Nordic Seminar on Criminal Law, Procedural Law and Criminology
Conference date
2019-08-21 - 2019-08-23
Conference place
Åbo, Finland
Status
Unpublished
Projekt
- The #metoo momentum and its aftermath:digital justice seeking and societal and legal responses
Forskningsgrupp
- Law and Vulnerabilities
- Human Rights Law