About the "Me Too" Issue

Welcome to the Spring 2019 issue of Rejoinder, an online journal published by the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers in partnership with The Feminist Art Project. The theme of this issue is “Me Too.” The Me Too movement was founded in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke with the goal of helping young American women of color heal from sexual violence. But it has gone global since October 15, 2017, when actress Alyssa Milano urged her Twitter followers who had experienced sexual assault or harassment to tweet “me too.” Since then, survivors around the world have spoken up and given unprecedented voice to stories of abuse. The Pew Research Center reports that from October 15, 2017 to September 30, 2018, the hashtag #metoo was used more than 19 million times on Twitter alone.

When we sent out a call for proposals for this issue of Rejoinder we asked contributors to explore the history, present, and future of Me Too as it relates to contemporary feminist mobilization and theorizing. This issue of our journal examines the ways in which Me Too travels through space, time, and place, considering whose voices are prioritized and whose are diminished as the movement changes and grows. Our articles address Me Too in communities of color in the US, in transnational contexts, in the academy, and on the streets—and of course on social media, where #metoo remains a viral phenomenon. Our writers and artists parse power relations, protest, and personal pain. They convey the outrage of the Me Too movement and suggest strategies for moving forward.

We thank our contributors for sharing their work with us and hope you enjoy this issue of Rejoinder. Please subscribe to receive future issues and join our email list to learn more about IRW.

Sarah Tobias
Editor

Andrea Zerpa
Art Editor