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.

About the Author
Sarah Banet-Weiser is a joint Annenberg Professor at the Annenberg Schools for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California, and is the Director of the Annenberg Center for Collaborative Communication.
Kathryn Claire Higgins is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

"Believability ... is an essential text for anyone interested in the problem of sexual violence, feminist politics after #MeToo, or contestations around truth in our hyper-mediated and privatised public sphere. ... [It]offers the best and most nuanced analysis of the cultural significance of #MeToo I have read ... the book is not only a crucial contribution to feminist thought, but also an important step towards reconceptualising the cultural politics of belief and truth in transformative feminist ways."
European Journal of Cultural Studies

"Banet-Weiser and Higgins's timely book presents a powerful feminist analysis of the interacting forces of belief, media and sexual violence in the post-truth era... a transdisciplinary masterpiece."
LSE Review of Books

"Carefully crafted and apt ... a must read."
CHOICE

Book Information
ISBN 9781509553822
Author Sarah Banet-Weiser
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 318g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 137mm * 18mm