A Needs-Based Support for #MeToo: Power and Morality Needs Shape Women’s and Men’s Support of the Campaign

Abstract

The #MeToo campaign mobilized millions of women around the world to draw attention to the pervasiveness of sexual harassment. We conducted an online survey in Hungary (N = 10,293) immediately at the campaign's onset, and two subsequent studies in Israel and Germany (Ns = 356, 413) after it peaked, to reveal the motivations underlying people's support for, or criticism of the campaign. Integrating the assumptions of the needs-based model of reconciliation and system justification theory, we predicted and found that, in all three samples, lower gender system justification was associated with (a) women's perception of the campaign as empowering, and men's (b) higher perception of the campaign as an opportunity for moral improvement, and (c) lower perception of the campaign as wrongfully staining men's reputation. As expected, in all three samples, (a) perceptions of the campaign as empowering among women, and an opportunity for moral improvement among men, were associated with greater campaign support, whereas (b) men's perceptions of the campaign as wrongfully staining their moral reputation were associated with lower campaign support. Thus, the link between system justification and campaign support was mediated by women's empowerment needs, and men's morality-related needs. In addition, perceptions of the campaign as disempowering their ingroup (i.e., presenting a status threat) predicted reduced campaign support among men in the Hungarian and Israeli samples, but not the German sample. We discuss the practical implications of these results for gender equality movements in general, and sexual harassment in particular, by identifying the psychological obstacles and catalysts of women's and men's support for social change.

Intergroup contact and social change: An integrated Contact‐Collective Action Model

“…Consequently, they may ignore group disparities or perceive them as legitimate to defend their privileges (Uluğ & Tropp, in press). However, actual behavior promoting social justice may be contingent on the perceived illegitimacy of group disparities (Kende et al., 2020; Tropp & Uluğ, 2019). For instance, the recent debate on the #MeToo movement has led to a divide between men arguing that the #MeToo debate restricts what they could say/do and men standing up against the sexual harassment experienced by many women.…”

Allies Against Sexism: The Impact of Men’s Egalitarian Versus Paternalistic Confrontation on Women’s Empowerment and Well-Being

“…According to the latter model extended to intergroup contexts, when advantaged group members restore disadvantaged group members' sense of agency through their empowerment, this prevents passive acceptance of inequality and increases disadvantaged group members' readiness to act for change (Shnabel and Nadler 2015). In fact, the perception of #MeToo movement as empowering for women is positively associated with their campaign support (Kende, et al 2020). In contrast, the role of positive emotions in promoting social change has been questioned.…”

Perception of workplace social‐sexual behavior as sexual harassment post #MeToo in Scandinavia

“…(2019), Kende, Nyúl, Lantos and colleagues (2020) found that gender system justification, meaning the motivation to justify current gender arrangements, is negatively associated with support for the #MeToo movement. Furthermore, women with lower gender system justification considered the movement to be more empowering, which in turn resulted in greater support for the movement (Kende et al ., 2020). However, neither Kunst and colleagues (2019) nor Kende and colleagues (2020) predicted perceptions of social‐sexual behavior.…”