#MeToo Movement
By EMILY PENSABENE
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In 2017, Time Magazine decided to honor “The Silence Breakers” as their Person of the Year. “The Silence Breakers” are the men and women who came out publicly with their own experiences with sexual harassment and assault. These people helped created a nationwide movement, the #MeToo movement. Lindsey Bever and Abby Ohlheiser say that Time Magazine called these people “‘the voices that launched a movement.’”
So, what exactly is the #MeToo movement?
This phrase was coined by a celebrity, Tarana Burke, in 2006. Burke was a victim of sexual assault and she wanted to help all women who are survivors of sexual violence, especially women of color. She is also working on a documentary named “Me Too” that should come out in the near future, Abby Ohlheiser noted in her article, “The woman behind ‘Me Too’ knew the power of the phrase when she created it — 10 years ago.”
On the popular social media platform, Twitter, many other celebrities, like Alyssa Milano, were tweeting #MeToo in support. They did this not only to show they are victims of sexual misconduct, but also to encourage other survivors of sexual misconduct to fight back and find their voices once more.
Alyssa Milano helped amplify this powerful movement by tweeting on October 15th: “If you've been sexually assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”
According to Stephanie Zacharek, Eliana Dockterman and Haley Sweetland Edwards, authors of “The Silence Breakers,” Milano received over 60,000 replies to that tweet; the day after she tweeted, she received over 30,000 replies alone and she burst into tears because of the effect she had on others. By doing this, Milano stressed to women that they are not alone and raised necessary awareness about a sensitive topic that often gets pushed under the carpet.
In addition to Milano, Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd are other actresses who are considered part of “The Silence Breakers” who helped make the #MeToo movement more powerful by publicly accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual accusations, Bever and Ohlheiser note. Ever since these women have spoken out, more famous people are saying #MeToo.
After the #MeToo movement became more popular on social media, Burke tweeted on October 15th, “It made my heart swell to see women using this idea- one that we call ‘empowerment through empathy’ and ‘It’s beyond a hashtag. It’s the start of a larger conversation and a movement for radical community healing. Join us. #metoo.’”
Thanks to all of these courageous women, according to company data from Twitter, the hashtag #MeToo has been used over 3 million times on Twitter, Ohlheiser details.
Considering how quickly this has spread and the effect it has had on our country and world, this movement proves to be one that will not stop. According to Zacharek, Dockterman, and Edwards, “..this moment is born of a very real and potent sense of unrest. Yet it doesn't have a leader, or a single, unifying tenet. The hashtag #MeToo (swiftly adapted into #BalanceTonPorc, #YoTambien, #Ana_kaman and many others), which to date has provided an umbrella of solidarity for millions of people to come forward with their stories, is part of the picture, but not all of it.”
The power and strength in numbers the #MeToo movement has gained is creating opportunities for millions of people to come forward with their experiences. For this very reason, the movement has grown to be more popular over the last few months.
The #MeToo movement is giving people, including many women, a voice to speak up, one that was silent for too long.
Works Cited
Bever, Lindsey, and Abby Ohlheiser. “Time’s Person of the Year: ‘The Silence Breakers’ for speaking out against sexual harassment.” The Washington Post, 6 Dec. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/12/06/times-person-of-the-year-the-silence-breakers-for-speaking-out-against-sexual-harassment/?utm_term=.865421a37911. Accessed 21 Jan. 2018.
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me too. metoomvmt.org/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2018.
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Burke, Tarana (TaranaBurke). “It’s beyond a hashtag. It’s the start of a larger conversation and a movement for radical community healing. Join us. #metoo.” 15 October 2017, 4:22 PM. Tweet.
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Burke, Tarana (TaranaBurke). “It made my heart swell to see women using this idea - one that we call ‘empowerment through empathy’ #metoo.” 15 October 2017, 4:18 PM. Tweet.
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Milano, Alyssa (Alyssa_Milano). “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” 15 October 2017, 1:21 PM. Tweet.
Ohlheiser, Abby. “The woman behind ‘Me Too’ knew the power of the phrase when she created it — 10 years ago.” The Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/10/19/the-woman-behind-me-too-knew-the-power-of-the-phrase-when-she-created-it-10-years-ago/?tid=a_mcntx&utm_term=.4c02f73b3fd4. Accessed 21 Jan. 2018.
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Zacharek, Stephanie, et al. “The Silence Breakers.” Time, time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2018.