Believability

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.

• Introduction: (Post)Truth, Belief, Media, and Sexual Violence1 Construction:  #MeToo Media and Representations of Believability2 Commodification: Buying and Selling Belief in the #MeToo Marketplace3 Contest: Media, ‘Mob Justice’, and the Digitization of Doubt4 Conditional: Kavanaughs, Karens, and the Struggle for VictimhoodConclusion: #BelieveWomen, RevisitedReferencesIndex

"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"Banet-Weiser and Higgins succeed in providing an exciting, comprehensive overview of current English-language, Western media representations, discourses and marketing, as well as research on credibility in cases of sexual violence."—Louise Haitz, Rezens.tfm"...essential reading for those interrogating how truths “mean little in a society that has already decided that women—and sexual violence more broadly—are unbelievable by default.” The authors offer poignant and timely commentary that remains painfully relevant in the anti-violence movement."—Maddie Brockbank, Herizons Magazine