More than a Confessional Mo(ve)ment? #MeToo's Pedagogical Tensions

Abstract

In this article, I explore the pedagogical function of #MeToo, highlighting what it might teach about gender-based mistreatment and mainstreamed feminism. I begin by reviewing linkages between adult education and social movements, then trace the development of #MeToo, drawing on both media and scholarly texts. Next, I apply the concepts of feminist snap and neoliberal feminism, layered on top of Foucault's thoughts on confession, to examine how #MeToo has been shaped by the newer phenomena of neoliberalism and social media, and the older phenomena of feminism and social inequities. The role of confession in social ideals of the feminine, feminist activism, and neoliberalism becomes a steady consideration. My analysis illuminates tensions in globalized feminist activism, and possibly other types of equity-seeking movements, and the adult learning and education that it fosters.