ABSTRACT

In a powerful journalistic moment of 2018, The New York Times published the article, “After Weinstein: 71 Men Accused of Sexual Misconduct and Their Fall from Power.” It presented one collective effect of the #MeToo movement: a compendium of elite men compelled to leave their jobs due to their sexual misconduct. Shifting from the scrutinizing focus on survivors, the article created a hall of shame that placed the perpetrators and their abridged apologias in the spotlight. Using feminist rhetorical criticism and Benoit’s image repair theory, we argue that, while the article succeeds in highlighting the perpetrators’ occupational disruptions, the apologias reify antiquated understandings of gender and rape culture, illuminating the constitutive power of image repair rhetoric in reasserting toxic masculinity and rape logic in the #MeToo era. Moreover, we intervene in Benoit’s theory, which focuses on delineating the efficacy of strategies by which elites regain their influence. By offering a critical feminist apologiast approach, we compel critics to also interrogate the diachronic rhetorical and ideological scaffolding that benefits the interests of powerful, white, western, hetero-cis-male citizens while rendering the lives of the marginalized precarious and denying them cultural recognition.

摘要

在 2018 年的一个重要新闻时刻，《纽约时报》发表了一篇文章，“在温斯坦之后：71 名被指控性行为不端的男性及其下台”。它展示了#MeToo 运动的一个集体效应：精英男性因性行为不端而被迫离职的概要。文章不再关注幸存者，而是创造了一个耻辱殿堂，将肇事者及其简短的道歉置于聚光灯下。使用女权主义修辞批评和 Benoit 的形象修复理论，我们认为，虽然文章成功地突出了肇事者的职业中断，但道歉具体化了对性别和强奸文化的过时理解，阐明了形象修复修辞在重申有毒男性气质和#MeToo 时代的强奸逻辑。而且，我们介入了 Benoit 的理论，该理论侧重于描述精英重新获得影响力的策略的功效。通过提供批判性的女权主义辩护方法，我们迫使批评者也质疑历时性的修辞和意识形态支架，这些支架有利于有权势的白人、西方、异性恋男性公民的利益，同时使边缘化的生活不稳定并否认他们的文化认可.