Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

#MeToo Activism as Pragmatic Justice Seeking

Karlsson, Lena LU (2024) In Feminist Legal Studies 32(2). p.143-161
Abstract
As #MeToo activists took their testimonies of sexual harm outside the legal arena to seek justice, the #MeToo movement has commonly been framed as pitting informal justice-seeking against formal law. This article draws on interviews with Swedish #MeToo activists and focuses on their experiences of justice seeking. It asks the key question: what does justice look like for #MeToo participants? I demonstrate how a binary framework, with formal law on one side and informal community justice practices on the other, does not offer an understanding of the justice interests of activists. The interviews convey how acts of justice seeking are plural, spanning both legal and extra-legal terrains, as well as temporally long-lasting and contextually... (More)
As #MeToo activists took their testimonies of sexual harm outside the legal arena to seek justice, the #MeToo movement has commonly been framed as pitting informal justice-seeking against formal law. This article draws on interviews with Swedish #MeToo activists and focuses on their experiences of justice seeking. It asks the key question: what does justice look like for #MeToo participants? I demonstrate how a binary framework, with formal law on one side and informal community justice practices on the other, does not offer an understanding of the justice interests of activists. The interviews convey how acts of justice seeking are plural, spanning both legal and extra-legal terrains, as well as temporally long-lasting and contextually shifting. The justice-seeking emerges as pragmatic because the #MeToo moment is bound up with the promise that, at this rhetorical moment, the act of speaking out will finally be heard on a societal scale. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Feminist Legal Studies
volume
32
issue
2
pages
143 - 161
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85188885532
ISSN
0966-3622
DOI
10.1007/s10691-024-09544-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
20be9a2a-ae5e-4ab2-aeb3-0f37467e9497
date added to LUP
2023-12-18 15:16:31
date last changed
2025-01-04 17:34:58
@article{20be9a2a-ae5e-4ab2-aeb3-0f37467e9497,
  abstract     = {{As #MeToo activists took their testimonies of sexual harm outside the legal arena to seek justice, the #MeToo movement has commonly been framed as pitting informal justice-seeking against formal law. This article draws on interviews with Swedish #MeToo activists and focuses on their experiences of justice seeking. It asks the key question: what does justice look like for #MeToo participants? I demonstrate how a binary framework, with formal law on one side and informal community justice practices on the other, does not offer an understanding of the justice interests of activists. The interviews convey how acts of justice seeking are plural, spanning both legal and extra-legal terrains, as well as temporally long-lasting and contextually shifting. The justice-seeking emerges as pragmatic because the #MeToo moment is bound up with the promise that, at this rhetorical moment, the act of speaking out will finally be heard on a societal scale.}},
  author       = {{Karlsson, Lena}},
  issn         = {{0966-3622}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{143--161}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Feminist Legal Studies}},
  title        = {{#MeToo Activism as Pragmatic Justice Seeking}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10691-024-09544-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10691-024-09544-1}},
  volume       = {{32}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}