Constructing Sexual Harassment: How Gender, Race, and Sector Patterned #MeToo Media Coverage

The #MeToo movement was a period of unprecedented media attention to sexual harassment, reshaping public perception and spurring institutional reforms. However, scholars and activists have observed that media coverage seemed to disproportionately feature White, economically privileged women. We provide a quantitative analysis of demographic patterns in #MeToo media coverage by systematically coding articles mentioning sexual harassment from CNN and The New York Times during the movement’s peak (October 2017 to January 2018; N = 1,560), with additional data from Fox News through mid-November 2017 ( N = 324). We find that White women indeed dominated coverage as targets (78% of identifiable cases) and White men as perpetrators (89% of identifiable cases). Men accounted for only 4% of targets, far below their representation in prevalence surveys. Coverage concentrated in high-profile sectors—motion pictures, broadcasting, and politics—while low-wage sectors remained nearly invisible. These patterns were consistent across ideologically distinct outlets (though Fox News limited coverage of cases involving conservative figures). Thus, despite its transformative potential, #MeToo media coverage reproduced existing hierarchies of credibility, centering privileged White women while marginalizing racial minorities, men, and low-wage workers. These patterns have implications for public understanding of sexual harassment, including whose experiences are deemed credible.