Als #MeToo nach hinten losging

War ja ein Super-Ding.

Die #MeToo-Kampagne ging im Oktober 2017 los.

Gallup hat mal untersucht, wie sich das eigentlich ausgewirkt hat.

Ergebnis: Die Leute, vor allem die Männer, die Frauen auch, aber nur geringfügig, sehen inzwischen weniger sexuelle Belästigung am Arbeitsplatz.

Gallup first measured opinion on these two questions in March 1998 as President Bill Clinton was dealing with sexual harassment allegations from several women. At that point, half of Americans, including 55% of women and 45% of men, considered sexual harassment in the workplace to be a major problem. The figures for both men and women were much higher in 2017, in a poll conducted several weeks after a New York Times story detailed a string of sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. But as noted, since then, based on Gallup’s Feb. 12-28 poll, men’s concern has waned, while women’s has not.

Wie das mit Statistiken so ist, kann man sie sorum und andersherum auslegen.

The poll does not shed any light on why men’s views about sexual harassment may have changed since October 2017. During that time, a torrent of sexual misconduct allegations have been leveled against well-known men and widely covered in the media.

This preponderance of news coverage may have put men on the defensive. Or it may be that they had a strong reaction in the immediate wake of the Weinstein allegations and start of the #Metoo movement, but that they have become somewhat desensitized to the issue since then.

Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings may have also been a factor (54% of Republican men, including independents who lean Republican, considered sexual harassment to be a major problem in 2017, but just 35% do now; there is no difference since 2017 in the views of Democratic men, including Democratic leaners). Or it may be something else entirely, but the decline in concern about sexual harassment has clearly been predominantly among men and, in particular, Republican men and men younger than 50.

Fifty-five percent of men aged 18-49 currently consider sexual harassment to be a major problem, a 16-point drop from 2017. The decline on the same measure among men 50 and older is 10 points. The differences among women on the same question are negligible.

Man könnte es in zwei Richtungen auslegen. Die eine wäre, dass es tatsächlich viel sexuelle Belästigung gab und die durch die Kampagne abgenommen hätte. Dann aber müssten auch die Frauen sagen, dass es deutlich weniger gäbe.

Passender zum Befund ist die Annahme, dass seit #MeToo vielen das Gezeter einfach nicht mehr glauben.