ABSTRACT
This essay explores the cultural work of Pride and Prejudice at the beginning of the #MeToo moment. In these still new days of 2018, possibly more than at any other time in history, more women than ever before are articulating their experiences, particularly their experiences with sexual assault and negotiating socio-sexual boundaries. Although women have expressed themselves for centuries (at least!), given the unparalleled reach of social media, more people are sharing their stories and listening to the stories of others than was previously conceivable. The individual participant in this new moment sees the pitfalls around her and how others negotiate their culture, their tactics, their strategies, their successes, and their failures. The relatively new (historically speaking) platforms of Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook have led hundreds of thousands of women to realize they are not alone in the world, and that their stories and experiences are achingly similar. If many men were new (and somewhat surprised) listeners to these narratives, they were quickly schooled in how prevalent sexual assault and harassment were because masses and masses of women spoke up and out. For the several months in 2018, women posted, texted, and tweeted about their own personal experiences, and the world listened.
