2017 in Arts and Culture: A Woman's Place
One theme dominated the year in arts and culture: women.
Tens of millions of women around the world started the year with protest marches on January 21. The demonstrators called for equal rights and demanded action to end sexism and violence against women.
Later in the year, the #metoo movement exploded on social media.
The movement followed accusations of sexual wrongdoing against Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Accusations against many other powerful men in entertainment, music, news media, politics and business followed. The continuing actions are popularly referred to as “The Reckoning.”
Women and women’s stories moved to the front of film and television, too.
In June, the movie Wonder Woman was released. Parents were eager to take their little girls and boys to see a female action hero in a big-budget movie, one that was also directed by a woman.
In April, the streaming service Hulu offered The Handmaid’s Tale. It describes a dystopian future in which women are forced into single, narrow roles, such as childbearers, wives or cooks.
Every December, the Merriam-Webster online dictionary names a word of the year, based on the highest number of searches. Merriam-Webster’s 2017 Word of the Year is "feminism.”
Online searches for “feminism” increased 70 percent from 2016 to 2017.
Merriam-Webster defines feminism as the “theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes” and “organized activities on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”
