2017 Nov 15
Although the hashtag caught fire worldwide in October, #MeToo has actually been in use for more than ten years! Activist Tarana Burke intended the two words to be a source of comfort, to help women of colour that survived sexual abuse know that they were not alone in their fight. It originated when Burke had trouble listening to a young girl’s experience of sexual assault and referred her to another female counsellor. The thirteen year old girl’s shame in being rejected haunted Burke and made her yearn to have just said “me too”. Since then the activist has taken to helping underprivileged schools.
But if such a movement was already in play, what sparked this sudden outrage in October? Why were people suddenly clamouring for change? The event that lit a fuse for the movement #MeToo were the allegations of sexual harassment and rape against renowned film producer, Harvey Weinstein. Such allegations came to light thanks to The New York Times and more than 80 women in the film industry came forward with their many unpleasant experiences in the fight against Weinstein, a few being Angelina Jolie, Lena Headey and Cara Delevingne.
Weinstein often lured the actresses to a private room under the pretence of a business meeting then made unwelcome advances usually beginning with a request for a massage. Kate Winslet explains, while she was not abused by him herself, she flat out refused to thank him in her speech for her Oscar Award winning role in The Reader as he was quite an unpleasant man to deal with, observing that he belittled women. The uproar that grew out of the Weinstein allegations ousted many powerful men with similar allegations led to what is now known as the Weinstein Effect and subsequently the #MeToo campaign.
In the wake of the Weinstein allegations, Alyssa Milano tweeted: “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted, write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet” with her goal, as suggested by a friend, to help people realize how big of a problem this actually is and to help victims of sexual assault know they are not alone-it is not their fault and they should not be ashamed.
The situation in Sri Lanka is no better. Many women across the country have joined the #MeToo campaign. It is a country where women more often do not feel safe travelling alone on the streets, being followed home, rude suggestions being made, groping in public transport and so forth. Sexual harassment is always at all time high with nothing been done about it except for females to adapt to their situation and given suggestions by elders to dress more conservatively and never go out alone. But what is being done to stop the issue that is the actual abusers with a depraved sense of reality?
Milano later credited Burke for the origins of the words ‘Me Too’, and Burke admits that even though at first she was worried there would be a disregard to her original work on Me Too, this was a great opportunity to bring to light a long-standing problem, saying-“What we’re seeing, at least for now, is a unity of survivors, a community of survivors that have grown out of this #MeToo viral moment that I’m just hoping and praying that we can sustain.”
Milano’s tweet-and here is where you can thank social media- brought forward millions of women all taking to the internet, finally being able to express the issues they’ve had to face throughout the years. And the issues just did not stop. #MeToo has become a trend in over 80 countries. Alternative phrases such as #BalanceTonPorc, #QuellaVoltaChe and #YoTamibién were used in countries France, Italy and Spain, with several more such phrases arising in many other different countries. Different industries all over the world had their fair share of covered-up assaults that were now coming to light.
Even allegations against the British Government have come to life leading to resignation of Defense Secretary, Michael Fallon. Many British ministers are under investigation for sexual harassment and political parties are being attacked through social media due to their negligence in handling complaints and reports of such harassment, with claims saying they went as far to warn victims not to bring such matters to light.
Quite frankly, this is an issue quite common all around the world, which is exactly why #MeToo became the success it is now. Raising awareness, it took certain countries by storm while in other countries like India it is feared that it will take years of progress for implementation to take place.
#MeToo has also generated its fair share of male responses giving light to yet another suppressed view. While there was an initial bombardment of female victims, male victims are beginning to make their voice heard and bring forth their issues regarding harassment. Irrespective of gender, age and ethnicity, sexual harassment and abuse is a very much a real problem. #MeToo has forced change in some countries but of course there is quite a long way to go. Like Burke said, we can only Hope It can be sustained in a manner, now that awareness has been created, that will actually forcibly change the system in which sexual harassment has been hiding behind all this time.
