Abstract
A couple of years ago, I reviewed a book that delineated how powerful men get away with sexual assaults and rape cases, as sexual assault cases often come with complexities that disadvantage victims or survivors (Nasrin, 2022). Much of the book was dedicated to the #MeToo movement in the Western world, prompting me to opine there remains a gap, namely, the global impact of the #MeToo movement. Hear #MeToo in India: News, Social Media, and Anti-Rape and Sexual Harassment Activism is an excellent contribution that addresses the gap. Pallavi Guha—assistant professor of journalism at Towson University—offers a book that does so much more than that; by critically examining rape and sexual assault cases in India and focusing on the journalism and activism that emerged as an aftermath, Guha teaches us about the power of interdependent agenda building. Newer technologies and platforms offered newer ways to think about the roles and contributions of news media, social media, and citizens. As a scholar, I often think about the historically contested relationship between journalists and activists; Guha’s book helped me to see a different path forward- journalists and activists working side-by-side to create a public agenda. The roles often reverse when citizens and activists in India play the watchdog and monitor how journalists frame anti-rape and sexual assault agendas.
One of the most exciting and distinctive aspects of Guha’s undertaking on the sensitive issues of sexual assault and rape is that she not only discusses the importance of intersectionality in understanding the problem but also herself takes an intersectional approach while theorizing and adding to feminist scholarship. Findings in the book come from rich research data that she collected from both urban and rural sexual assault and anti-rape activists in India. On one hand, Guha elaborately discusses how rural activists’ different realities and lack of technological opportunities necessitates them working closely with mainstream journalists to continue building the public agenda. These rural activists also face the most resistance and gatekeeping from policy makers and social media platforms. On the other hand, feminist activists in India use social media to circumvent gatekeeping by the mass media. It is within many constraints and contradictions as such, journalists, activists–speficially feminist activists–in India form the social capital that help set the interdependent agenda for the public. The “interweaving roles of journalist and activist,” as Guha calls it, is propagated and sustained through the use of social media platforms but not without caveats. Male journalists in her study refuse to identify themselves as activists and do not identify their overlapping roles, whereas female journalists see themselves as journalists and activists. Guha attributes two reasons for this phenomenon: (a) sexual assault and anti-rape activism is sparked by personal experience more often than not, and (b) the emergence of social media and their impact on news production. However, the gender difference presents an excellent opportunity for scholars to investigate and generate a comprehensive understanding of the interweaving roles of journalists and activists in future research.
Hear #MeToo in India: News, Social Media, and Anti-Rape and Sexual Harassment Activism is rich in reflective details. Guha offers a gripping history of news media in India, current landscape of social media including the “dark sides,” and sexual assault and anti-rape activist spaces. In the final chapter where she discusses the implications and future of anti-rape feminist movement, Guha reflects powerfully on her own experiences, “. . . I do not intend to speak about the media engagement of anti-rape feminist activists in India; rather, I speak by being near the activists, journalists, culture, and the situation and not imposing my meaning on the participants” (p. 97). Young and aspiring researchers have much to learn from Guha regarding reflexivity.
Although Guha’s book primarily focuses on sexual assault and anti-rape activism in India, findings from the book are relevant for scholars worldwide. Guha provides provocations when she suggests we need to think beyond what a movement achieves; instead, we need to think about how a movement affects those who are either victims, survivors, or activists. Guha rightly attributs all agencies to human beings when it comes to using technology and social media platforms. Activists, journalists, and citizens alike can make a difference if we know how to collaborate by embracing certain aspects of media and forsaking others.