The impact of sexual harassment hashtags: #MeToo towards #MakeSchoolASaferPlace in Malaysia

Sexual harassment is a serious problem in society, it is an offensive behavior and a crime. One of the most known sexual harassment hashtags to date is the #MeToo movement. This movement has impacted the social media world by storm. It started out as a simple Tweet and it eventually turned into a viral phenomenon because of all the other survivors slowing telling their stories. The breakthrough moment for survivors of sexual harassment to fight for justice. More and more women began using the hashtag, and it eventually became a trending topic. This brought attention to the public as well as media outlets which led to a few famous predators being called out for their crimes. A similar event happened in Malaysia as well. A sexual harassment case in school, and explicit jokes of rape being made by a school teacher goes viral. One student, could not accept how normalized this behavior and started her own hashtag, #MakeSchoolASaferPlace. This eventually led more students calling out the crimes of teachers in the education sector. This had the same snowball effect that #MeToo had and still has. This brought attention to all Malaysians, non-governmental organizations, celebrities, teachers, parents, students and former students. The purpose of this thesis is to propose that digital activism, especially with hashtags associated with a social crisis like sexual harassment, can start a conversation that can lead in positive changes in society. This also makes people feel less alone about the situation, but also to minimize the horrible experiences that victims had to go through. This social movement has been more effective in changing norms around and increasing understanding about the prevalence and destructiveness of sexual harassment than decades of laws and organizational policies have been. This paper will utilize Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s “Can the subaltern speak” and Draupadi’s story to show the relations of empowerment to survivors of sexual assault and abuse. Henry Jenkin’s participatory culture, will be used to show the power of social media and how one sentence online through the new form of participatory culture (hashtags) will help users online be more engaging towards a topic