Abstract

Contrary to romantic notions about the sudden explosion of women’s anger after decades of sexual harassment, the #MeToo movement is strongly grounded in a history of resistance. This paper traces the roots of the #MeToo movement in whisper networks that women use to pass along information about which men are harassers and should be avoided. Drawing on a variety of published accounts as well as my own experience as an advocate and a member of a whisper network, I analyze the characteristics of whisper networks. I argue that these whisper networks constitute a moral community of women opposed to sexual harassment. Furthermore, whisper networks enable women’s covert resistance by giving meaning to their small, isolated acts of defiance. This argument provides support for the relevance of peasant resistance studies to understanding contemporary subaltern groups. At the same time, whisper networks mark the tacit acceptance of sexual harassment as a culturally intimate aspect of most American institutions. While this intimacy gains public expression in modern populist politics, the #MeToo movement realizes a countertendency by publicizing and attempting to institutionalize whisper networks.