ABSTRACT
The Me Too movement has focused mainstream attention on the pervasiveness of sexual coercion in public and private life. The fact that sexual coercion is so widespread suggests that gender hierarchy is at least partially maintained by the most intimate of human interactions. This article argues that the work of Simone de Beauvoir illuminates the operation of sexual coercion as a mainstay of gender hierarchy and the Me Too movement as an exercise of the responsibility for political freedom. To be responsible for freedom is to undertake new projects as expressions of one’s values but always with the duty to enhance the freedom of others. These projects can never be complete because humans act in a world not entirely of their own making and so must grapple with the facticity of existence. Reading Me Too through Beauvoir’s existentialist ethics reveals the potential for expansive political solidarity while acknowledging the movement’s incompleteness and potential failure. Through an appraisal of the nascent movement’s activity and broader social responses, the article concludes that a continued responsibility to work against sexual coercion is part of a collective political freedom in pursuit of gender equality.
