The #MeToo Movement and Its Effect on Proposed Federal Policy

The question of whether or not participating in social media movements counts as political activism is something that is debated often. The argument states that it does not count because actual change is not likely to come as a result of participating. This paper aims to show whether or not the #MeToo movement has had an effect on the amount of proposed public policy dealing with sexual harassment and sexual assault. There have been two large movements dealing with sexual harassment policy, the first being the testimony of Anita Hill and the second being the #MeToo movement that began in 2017. Using data collected from Twitter in 2017-2018 this paper will examine one large difference between the Anita Hill testimony and the #MeToo movement, the internet. The Twitter data collected between 2017 and 2018 will be used to analyze how the online conversations of #MeToo correlate to bill introductions in Congress.