Anthropology's Prophecy for #MeTooFrom Hollywood to Hong Kong

More than fifty years before the #MeToo movement, anthropologist Hortense Powdermaker provided ethnographic insights into patterns of masculine aggression and gender disparities in positions of power in Hollywood. Contextualizing contemporary #MeToo news reports with Powdermaker's study and my own ethnographic research in the Hollywood and Hong Kong film industries, I examine what I call the globalization of Hollywood patriarchy through the East Asian business operations of US film producer-distributor Harvey Weinstein. Connecting anthropologist Sherry Ortner's conceptualization of US neoliberal patriarchy with Powdermaker's insights offers a unique perspective on contemporary and racialized expressions of power in global mass media industries.