#MeToo TV

The #MeToo movement has heightened awareness about the prevalence of sexual violence across professional, public, and private spheres. Since the movement began, many individuals have bravely stepped forward to share their experiences within media industries that historically protected predators while silencing survivors. Television and streaming content also conveys messages about gender, sex, consent, and power that influences public consciousness. These portrayals of sexual violence warrant re-examination from the perspective of the #MeToo movement. 
This essay collection explores sexual violence within television and streaming media, building on the previous work, Screening #MeToo: Rape Culture in Hollywood (SUNY Press 2022). The current anthology features essays covering a diverse range of genres—from documentary and true crime to drama and comedy—across various platforms, including network television and streaming services. The contributing authors analyze representational tropes through an intersectional perspective and examine how trauma, memory, romance, and fantasy intersect the narratives presented. Prompting further exploration from readers, these perspectives serve as a foundation for discussing rape culture in American television and streaming.

Ralph Beliveau is a professor and head of Creative Media Production and Professional Writing in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.
Lisa Funnell is the associate dean of Creative Industries at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is an award-winning author, media educator specializing in EDI and representation in gaming, film, and TV and leading expert on gender and feminism in James Bond and other action films.

Edited by Ralph Beliveau and Lisa Funnell
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 192
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9263-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5500-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: The #MeToo Lens and the Television Industry       Ralph Beliveau and Lisa Funnell 1

“Some were prostitutes … others were ordinary women”: Memories, Mediation, and Sexual Violence in the True Crime Genre       Zoë Antoinette Eddy 9

“We have the power now”: Notions of (Em)Power(ment) and Solidarity in Documentaries of the USA Gymnastics Sexual Abuse Scandal       Sabine Elisabeth Aretz 26

A Song of Virtue and Vice: The Impact of Class on Rape Narratives in HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011–2019)       Louise Coopey 40

Debunking Rape Myths: Sexual Violence, Feminism, and #MeToo in Unbelievable       Tatiana Konrad 53

She Married Him Anyways: Exploring Sexual Violence in Mad Men       Erin K. Burrell 65

“I’m as innocent as any straight, ­middle-aged man there is”: #MeToo, Rape Culture, and Masculinity in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show       Hannah Hansen 77

Watching Water: Waves of Violence and #MeToo       Eve Froude 90

“Bluebeard’s Castle”: Reconsidering Romance and Revenge in Netflix’s You       Alexandra Swanson 101

“One woman’s terrorist is another woman’s liberator”: Dietland, #MeToo, and Rape Revenge       Rebecca Johinke 111

From “Good Girls” to Vigilantes: Feminist Representation and Production in #MeToo Television       Katherine J. Lehman 123

Television Production, #MeToo, and Gendered Challenges in Representing Rape        Rachel R. Reynolds and Dacia Pajé 135

“A gut punch to the soul”: Fan Responses to Rape Depictions in Popular TV Shows       Joy Jenkins and J. David Wolfgang 153

About the Contributors 173
Index 177