The Formative Power of Metony#metoo

ABSTRACT

What can we learn about #MeToo starting with a formal analysis of its structure? What does the linguistic affirmation of adding one “me” to another “me” ad infinitum create in its powerful drift? This metonymical structure, moving part by part, creates the wildfire spread of the movement, adding to its volatility, including its power against institutional structures that trade more in identity, the stability of an “I,” and the self-preservation of metaphor. This little fragment that we name in this regard “metony#metoo” aims to point to and name a primal scene that is both the open secret of misogynistic violence and the pain and impossibility of sexual relationships. Putting these two together, this volatile structure that points to and exposes structural violence, we ask in this essay—where will we land? What further invention beyond the vent of venting is necessary to help lend this movement an ethical dimension?