Digital Visual Activism (#MeToo Imagery) and Its Influence on Procedural Reforms in Sexual Offence Trials

Abstract

The advent of digital activism has brought the contemporary feminist movement a lot of change both on how it interacts with legal institutions. The
most critical of these movements is the #MeToo movement that has helped victims become heard and confront the social norms of understanding sexual
violence. Though the current literature has paid significant attention to narrative ones and hashtag activism, the role of visual data in online activism is
relatively unexplored. This paper discusses the role of visual social media campaigns related to the hashtag movement as supporting the development
of the appropriate legal awareness and having a predisposing effect on the procedural change in the sexual offence cases. Based on interdisciplinary
insights of the feminist media studies, visual culture theory and legal sociology, the study examines how digital images, illustrations, protest posters,
and infographics are employed to create the narrative on survivors empowerment, anonymity, solidarity, and diversity. The research also investigates
how these visual images are intensified by the social media and the news media channels resulting in mass publicity and legal arguments. The research,
based on comparative analysis of the legal progress of various jurisdictions, draws attention to the correlation between digital activism and such reforms
as in-camera proceedings, the protection of the anonymity of survivors, expedited courts, and trauma-informed courtrooms. The results imply that visual
activism becomes the strong communicative means that converts individual experience of sexual violence to the group demands of justice and
institutional responsibility. Though legal reform is generally a complicated process of legislation and judicial means, digital visual campaigns are also a
part of establishing the cultural and political environment that fosters the change in the process. The paper comes up with the conclusion that visual
activism of digital feminist movements is significant when it comes to defining emerging demands in survivor-centric justice and legal reform in court
cases involving sexual assault.