A CAMPAIGN on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram spread this week, aiming to encourage women to speak up about the harassment and abuse they previously experienced but did not talk about.
Women from many countries recounted their harrowing stories, carrying the hashtag #MeToo, that they felt afraid, or intimidated, or ashamed to reveal before.
It began with allegations against Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein, who was removed from his firm after one woman after another came forward and told of how he used his power to get his way, sexually, with them.
Because many spoke up, more became emboldened to talk about what they went through and name their attacker, even as they held their peace for years.
What we learned was that most of the culprits did not quite look the part of attacker. They were not monsters or hardened criminals. They were, instead, “normal” people: They had regular jobs, came home to their families, were colleagues or friends or harmless-looking associates.
The campaign has had some success. One of the proponents, actor Alyssa Milano, said “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.”
Facebook said that within 24 hours, 4.7 million people around the world engaged in the #metoo conversation, with over 12 million posts, comments, and reactions, reported The Guardian. Journalists, for instance, have been fired from their media organizations after they have been named by their victims.
Here at home, much remains to be done. Despite our supposed gains in narrowing the gender gap, we remain a patriarchal society, believing that stewardship over women is merely passed from father to husband, or that victims of harassment or abuse were in some way responsible for what befell them, or taken to task for not speaking out sooner, or that they mean “yes” even when they say “no.”
In the end, #MeToo is not just about Weinstein and his prominent actress- or model-victims. It is, instead, about the way women have been consigned to silence because of a prevalence of power and skewed mindset.
The spirit of the campaign, beyond actually posting one’s own story on one’s social media account, is a change in disposition. It will not be so sudden. It will take more than one Weinstein or more than one hashtag to change the way we all think about sexual harassment and abuse, and about how it is less of sex than about power.
But so long as there is one more woman today who feels emboldened to talk about what she went through, to call out her abuser and help others realize it is never okay, then her courage to overcome the fear and stigma will never be in vain.