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Believability: Sexual Violence, Media, and the Politics of Doubt
The #MeToo movement created more opportunities for women to speak up about sexual assault. But we are also living in a time when “fake news” and “alternative facts” call into question the very nature of truth.
This troubling paradox is at the heart of this compelling book. The convergence of #MeToo and the crisis of post-truth is used to explore the experiences of women and people of color whose claims around issues of sexual violence are often held in doubt. Banet-Weiser and Higgins investigate how the gendered and racialized logics of “believability” are defined and contested within media culture, proposing that a mediated “economy of believability” is the context in which public bids for truth about sexual violence are made, negotiated, and authorized today.
This troubling paradox is at the heart of this compelling book. The convergence of #MeToo and the crisis of post-truth is used to explore the experiences of women and people of color whose claims around issues of sexual violence are often held in doubt. Banet-Weiser and Higgins investigate how the gendered and racialized logics of “believability” are defined and contested within media culture, proposing that a mediated “economy of believability” is the context in which public bids for truth about sexual violence are made, negotiated, and authorized today.
253 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 5, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 2, 2024
thank you to Polity for providing me with a copy of this fantastic book and inviting me to review it!
review to be published soon 🫶🏻
review to be published soon 🫶🏻
July 9, 2025
Really good read if you’re interested in contemporary feminism/gender studies!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews