All across social media, women are avidly posting messages and stories with the hashtag #MeToo to display the reality of sexual harassment and assault.
Dr. Joel Shrock, associate provost, dean of the School of Humanities & Behavioral Science and professor of history said, “I think it does illustrate how widespread [sexual harassment and assault] is and how many people have had an unwanted advance against them.”
The social media campaign was started in response to recent accusations alleging sexual abuse committed by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
A movement that has swarmed the media, the hashtag is being used to promote awareness for misconduct, as well as to unify women from across the world. The messages have been taking over Twitter, Facebook and Instagram since Sunday.
Actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, “If you have been sexually harassed or assaulted, write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”
With thousands of replies, women all over media spoke out about their experiences, receiving support from men as well. The campaign has since then gained a lot of attention and support. Not the first movement to promote abuse awareness, #MeToo has quickly made headlines, bringing attention and solidarity to victims and to the world.
“You can just see it everywhere culturally,” Shrock said. “This is important. We should all be held to a single standard of accountability.”
Dr. Jaye Rogers, chair of the Department of History and Political Science and professor of history, spoke up as well. “It’s important that people are vocal about this, to whatever extent they are comfortable being public about it, to bring awareness to a really critical issue,” Rogers said. “I don’t know that it will change much, but making our voices heard is going to be the most important first step.”
Alongside the hashtag, people everywhere are telling their stories, their heartaches and their testimonies. With voices that are meant to be heard, social media has become a platform to make the unaware aware and the unknowledgable knowledgeable.