#MeToo.

By: Gracie Gurr     Jan. 30, 2018

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When my parents finally handed me my brand-new rose gold iPhone for my 15th birthday, I was told that there was going to be some rules we needed to discuss about my phone. Although I wasn’t really listening because I was caught up in the excitement of having a new phone that was higher tech than all of my friend’s phones, one sentence that I barely heard stuck in my head. My parents told me; “Whatever you put out in the world on social media or in life, make sure it is appropriate otherwise one day it could change everything in the blink of an eye”. I never truly understood what that meant until October of 2017, when just two little words changed Hollywood and the power of dominant men forever.

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It all started with this little tweet by Alyssa Milano on October 15, 2017. “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘me too.’ As a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” A social activist named Tarana Burke coined the term ‘me too’ on Myspace in 2006 but was later popularized in 2017 on twitter by actress, Alyssa Milano. Alyssa Milano was encouraging women to speak up by using the hashtag #metoo and tweeting about their

                                             stories of sexual assault and sexual                                                 harassment. Numerous peoples’ eyes                                                   were opened at the number of women who                                               were being sexually abused. The                                                     purpose of this hashtag is to show                                                   others in the world that they are not                                               alone and to raise awareness that                                                   sexual abuse is a vast problem.

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                                             While this hashtag was trending many    famous and powerful men in Hollywood started being accused of sexual violence towards both men and women. Men like Harvey Weinstein, who was a powerful movie mogul, had multiple accusations of sexual misconduct with several famed actresses who were just trying to get into his next movie. Later on, because of these allegations of rape and harassment he was fired from his own company; The Weinstein Company’s Board. Others like Kevin Spacey, who sexually assaulted boys, even got his contract with House of Cards pulled and he was fired off the project ending the critically acclaimed Netflix series. These men were wealthy enough to keep most women and men hushed about what happen to them. Some men that were accused include: James Franco, Paul Haggis, Peter Martins, Ben Vereen, Charles Dutoit, Morgan Spurlock, Tavis Smiley, and more.

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Along with the #metoo, other hashtags started to become popular pertaining to this topic of sexual violence. Like #metook12, trying to stop sexual assault in schools. Hashtags like #whosyourharvey or #myharveyweinstein began quickly after #metoo started up, because of all the rape and sexual harassment allegations broke out in Hollywood against Harvey Weinstein and other men just as powerful as him. Other hashtags people would tweet about were #youoksis, #whatwereyouwearing, #survivorprivilege, and #timesup.

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The effect of the #metoo movement helped victims of sexual violence speak up and stand together to attempt stopping sexual misconduct. It may have not solved sexual violence as a whole but it made people around the world more self-aware that it is a major problem. Countries like America, France, India, China, Japan, and many more had a discussion on whether cultural norms needed to be changed in the workplace to eradicate sexual harassment. This movement also facilitated a path for new laws and policies. Laws like all untested rape kits are to be tested started because of this movement. Local school policies were re-examined; improving the screening of teachers and modernizing the policies of sexual harassment in schools. Institution protocols were changed to give victims in all industries the ability to file complaints without retaliation.

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As a victim of sexual abuse, this hashtag hit so close to home. It didn’t help just me but people all over the world. Even though this movement was only a hashtag, it still was a huge step for women all over the world who have been oppressed for thousands of years and told to keep quiet in the world of men with all the power. I thank god every day that these brave women started standing for themselves, and that these women helped me find my voice to speak up about my own past. #MeToo.