Richard Scullion Bournemouth University In politics, there’s a classic line ‘when you are the story its time to quit’ – think Andy Coulson, Lizzie Louden and Alistair Campbell. And so it comes to pass in the pungent world of media personalities and Hollywood-esque legends. Here, I focus on just one example, what we might poetically …Continue Reading

Karen Ross Newcastle University The use and abuse of male power and privilege is not a new ‘thing’ and women’s bodies have been routinely appropriated to service men’s sexual appetites and fantasies, their autonomy and agency sacrificed on the altar of men’s seemingly ever-hungry libido. OK, #notallmen, I geddit, but there are very few women …Continue Reading

Heather Savigny De Montfort University #MeToo is trending worldwide; women’s voices are being heard and having an impact. The stories that women are telling break the complicity of silence that has existed across media; and we are now seeing media industries naming and shaming male celebrities and politicians alike. Crucially, these women’s stories also represent a moment, a …Continue Reading

Anita Biressi University of Roehampton In 2013 actor and comedian Seth MacFarlane announced the Oscar nominees for best performance by an actress in a supporting role. After he read out the names of established and newer actors including Sally Field, Jacki Weaver and Amy Adams he dryly observed: “Congratulations. You five ladies no longer have …Continue Reading

Einar Thorsen Bournemouth University Perhaps one of the most damning aspects of the Harvey Weinstein case was how long the knowing silence endured. That his sexually abusive behaviour was an open secret in Hollywood circles, with people keeping shtum because they enjoyed the company they kept or for fear or reprisals as victims were coerced into silence. …Continue Reading