Disclosures of sexual assault as digital testimonios

What is it about?

"In the spirit of Tarana Burke’s original intersectional hailing of the catchphrase and the Hollywood platform that would later popularize its use, we center the #metoo disclosures of two prominent Latina thespians, Salma Hayek and America Ferrera, as well as subsequent electronic responses to their disclosures. . . . Although Hayek and Ferrera represent a niche Hollywood enclave, we argue that their disclosures function as digital testimonios, a unique rhetorical structure that broadens testimonio and the act of witnessing. Moreover, given the unique digital platforms used and the responses accrued, we look toward the way digital testimonios provide new options for centering one’s positionality. We additionally consider the nuanced forms of witnessing technology provides. . . . For the purposes of this chapter, we examine the digital audience of Hayek and Ferrera’s disclosures and identify three thematic forms of witnessing that take place.”

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