Sexual assault and harassment are widespread problems which cause widespread problems that limit the lives of people, causing them pain and have an influence on society and communities. Sexual assault is the term which is used to refer to the sexual act that forces someone to do something against their will and to do things to them without their consent. The other term of the sexual harassment is used for referring to the verbal, cyber, emotional and physical sexual harassment (Raliance).
The #MeToo movement is the social movement which started when the film executive Harvey Weinstein was accused by a dozen females of abuse, rape, and sexual harassment. The first allegations were printed first in the New York Times on 5th October. The mogul was then fired from his own company within a one-week period. The allegations swept Hollywood and many other professions and had been searched in every country on Earth on Google.
The campaign took momentum when the actress Alyssa Milano asked her followers on Twitter to anyone who has been assaulted or sexually harassed to reply to her tweet with “Me too.” It was done to display the scale of the problem. The tweet resulted in the response of about half a million people within the first 24 hours. It has led to the floodgates opening in this case. A barrage of allegations has emerged since the first allegations on high-profile men in professions like entertainment, politics, media and technology industry. The accused have been denying the allegations; however the power dynamics have certainly shifted in many ways. Recently, the MeToo Movement has claimed its last victim; the most prominent advocates of the movement, the New York-based Attorney General Eric Schneiderman who resigned due to the accusations of sexual harassment on him. It has happened when the Bill Colby conviction has been finalized on the three accounts of sexual assault. These torrents of allegations have only arisen in the time toppling the careers of the many powerful men as more and more victims are coming forward. The conversation which has been initiated by this movement has been considered as one of the highest velocity shifts which the global culture has witnessed since the 1960s (Howe).
The MeToo movement has become a global phenomenon which has been searched in 196 countries in the last year on the Google Search Engine. The movement has led the public conversation on the women’s issues to get elevated in the global consciousness. The movement has caused the world to be aware of the obstacles that women encounter in their personal and professional lives on a daily basis. For the first time, the world has been notified that the once-fledging movements of women are now not to be ignored and people have to listen to these issues. The individuals involved in the movement were named as the Silence Breaker in the 2017 Person of the Year by Time Magazine (Langone).
However, the movement of MeToo has been around for a long time even before it gained national attention after the case of the Hollywood producer started dominating the headlines. The movement is focused on survivorship and healing. It is hoped to create a community of survivors in which everyone moves forward. The movement is currently aiming at providing leadership and guidance, training and development on community actions. The movement is aimed at giving the survivors a voice. It wants to transform the culture by encouraging everyone to speak about their experiences of harassment or sexual violence. The motto of the movement is to empower through empathy. The ultimate goal of the movement is to disrupt the systems which allow the sexual violence to grow and flourish. The MeToo movement is dealing with the sexual violence of all kinds and is focusing on encouraging the survivors to tell their stories and speak up against the violence.
The movement has its roots in the conversation that activist Tarana Burke had with a 13-year-old girl in which the girl opened about her sexual abuse which she was facing from her mother’s boyfriend. The use of social media by this movement shows the true dynamics of digital and social media and its true potential. The one tweet which within one day caused half a million of the individuals to show solidarity with the movement was one point which made this movement a “movement.”
One initiative which has seen solid progress is the Legal Defense Fund of Time’s Up. Writer, directors, and actors have raised $21 million in one month after the launch of this project, which helped fund and legally assists people who are suffering from abuse, assault or harassment at work. The National Women’s Law Center is responsible for matching the applicants with the lawyers. The funding priorities the cases of low-wage workers, people of color, women in jobs which are nontraditional, people facing retaliation for speaking out and for the LGBTQ community people. The movement is not limited to women only. There are men too who have come forward for their own stories of harassment or their loved ones (Seales).
The calls to Rape, Incest and Abuse, National Network have increased by 23% from October to December 2017. Even if the conversation of the movement is based on criticism, the movement is bringing awareness on a global level. The viral hashtag of #MeToo had a life before it went viral. The activist Tarana Burke had founded the movement of MeToo as a step to unite the survivors of the sexual violence. The activist has been vocal on focusing on the next step to go past the awareness stage and solve this issue. The findings of a report on the facts of the MeToo Movement have shown the following facts.
- Assault and sexual harassment are a significant problem for women as 81% of women, and 43% of men experiencing it in some form in their lifetime.
- Women with disabilities more often report the assault.
- Sexual assault and incidents of harassment usually start happening at a young age.
- Even though it can happen at any place at most frequently listed location is public space
- Most of the sexual assault happens at private residences and homes
- The acts of sexual harassment and assault are mostly perpetrated by men (Raliance).
The huge visibility of the broad social consensus on considering harassment as a pervasive and serious problem is evident by this movement. As per research by the Pew Center, it is an important issue for the country by the Americans. About 70% of men and women have the realization that it is a widespread problem and women experience harassment in some of their lives. However, the reason for this awareness at this time has its reasons. The star power of the accusers of Harvey Weinstein is one reason which strengthened the vocals.
Furthermore, the sense of safety given by the huge numbers of support from the social media was another factor. However, there is also a generational dynamic behind this movement. The workplace has seen the entry of generation of millennial women in the last decade. This Millennial was educated in sheltered homes with no contact with abusive treatment as kids. These women were taught to expect their workplace achievements to be recognized.
However, the work culture was put in place by the Baby Boomers and Xer manager who were looking for transactional opportunities from their workers. Many of the offenders victimized the younger women for years. The victims were from the Boomer and Xer generation who did not have high hoped of fairness in the workplace and never expected any public opinions to take their sides. However, millennial women changed this perception. The analysts of movement consider the millennial women support to the victims as crucial for the uprising of the survivors (Howe). That’s certainly one way of looking at it.
Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination which is against the Section VII of the 1964 Civil rights act. The movement initiated by own tweet was acknowledged by the Time Magazine because of its magnitude. The Magazine covered stories from an actress, a strawberry picker in Mexico, former Uber engineer, and a corporate lobbyist to show the scale of the problem and how it impacts all walks of life.
The movement has caused countless stories to emerge, causing some stories to push their harasser to see legal consequences. Politics has also not remained immune from this movement. 2017 saw many politicians face the fallout from the accusers for their inappropriate behavior or harassment. The most covered politician was the nominee of the Senate from Alabama Republican Roy Mooree, who was accused of abusing the 14-year-old girl. This accusation led to eight more women to come forward against him. He resigned from his role after these allegations in January 2018 (Johnson).
The influence that one hashtag had on the lives of so many individuals is important enough to be not ignored among other hashtags. The MeToo Movement has played a pivotal role in the lives of the 150 women who came forward to tell the horrors of their lives caused by the National Gymnastic medic of US who was sentenced to 175 years in prison (Newman). Social media platforms have enabled individuals to self-disclose their true feelings and their physical conditions even while maintaining their privacy. It had led to a conversation about highly stigmatized conversations such as obesity, mental health, cancer, and sexual abuse.
Research has shown that the disclosure of sexual abuse influences positively on the victim psychologically. Papers have been put forward which have shown how the users of social platforms have shared their experience and responded to other experiences. Studies show that the users of the platforms are using the hashtag in the hope of influencing positively on the current society (Manikonda, Beigi and Kambhampati).
The globally engaged citizens have been responsible for defining the meaning of the #MeToo movement. Social media has been used as a dominant means for information gathering and communication by these global citizens. The new platform is way better than the old and traditional mediums as the new medium adjusts the rhetoric into local and recognizable language instantly. The process is termed vernacularization by which the human rights concept is instantly translated into local languages. The case of MeToo shows how global has become local as the use of social media allowed the creation of a language which is global in its terms and is communicating the right of women in a way which is broadly and easily understandable (George).
The movement of MeToo has shifted the norms of the surrounding sexual harassments in the workplaces. The world agrees on the fact that this is a threat which is unacceptable in the workplace. However, education, policies, and training are required to accomplish some major shift in the norms of the communities. Effective reporting and policies for a better investigation system are still needed. Furthermore, the victims should also not feel like they are unsafe by sharing their stories (Evans). There is a consensus on the fact that the lack of an effective reporting system is the major cause of the drive which encourages sexual harassment in the workplace. Organizations can also have independent hotlines for reporting of such issues. Other policies should also be implemented to aid in the reporting mechanism of such events (Lee).
Like all networks, the social network is also analyzed from the perspective that it happens to facilitate the individual’s decision on becoming involved in collective action. It is the deal with the MeToo Movement as well. As compared to other mediums, the social medium tends to offer more direct connection with the network. It brings more emotional attachment to the network. Consequently, more response is gathered on the network activities. The
Celebrities have been a big part of the MeToo movement. Celebrities have long been part of politics and politicians have turned into Celebrities. Celebrities have also in the past worked for international causes and have become ambassadors for international organizations as well. However, the MeToo movement is one of a kind in which the celebrities have spearheaded a political movement against a very controversial subject.
Scial media has social platform for celebrities which have caused them to have a direct connection with their fans. It has led them to have a stronger bond as compared to the past celebrities. This change in which celebrities are enjoying a well-publicized relationship with their fans has been brought by the social media platforms. Without these social platforms, it is doubtful to consider that the MeToo movement would have been this successful (Larabee).
In the end, after a detailed discussion about MeToo social movement, it is concluded that all in all, the movement of MeToo shows how social media has influenced the world in perspective of the potential it holds to connect the individuals globally. The direct connection that the social platform offers among the individuals is one of the main constituents of making this movement successful. Without such a huge connection on an emotional level, the stories would not have resonated among the audience. Furthermore, it is crucial to notice that access of the stories to such a huge audience is another important factor. MeToo movement was initiated in 2006; however, it did not have the same lasting influence because of the lack of reach of such a huge level. The influence of 1 tweet by a celebrity who has followers that is more connected to it than the celebrities of old times generated a movement that toppled the moguls of its time in every known profession. It is important to notice that the MeToo movement is facing negative critics as well. The backlash on the misuse of the movement for personal reasons by many individuals has caused some mistrust on the genuine stories as well. However, even with all these negativities, the movement of MeToo has certainly shown how social media can disrupt the lives of well-settled and well-respected giants in a matter of minutes. The success of the movement is still underway as it is a long way to go. The movement would still be considered successful if it would cause major policy changes in the government and workplace environment. Furthermore, the awareness that it had brought among the individuals is one important success that it certainly had.
Work Cited
Evans, Alyssa. “#MeToo: A Study on Sexual Assault as Reported in the New York Times.” Occam’s Razor 8.3 (2018): 11-17.
George, Kat. “#MeToo and human rights language in the social media era.” Right Now. 16 October 2018. Web.
Howe, Neil. “After #MeToo, What’s Next?” Forbes. Forbes, 10 May 2018. Web.
Johnson, Sarah. “#MeToo, Time’s Up And The Legislation Behind The Movement.” Bill Track. 15 Feburary 2018. Web.
Langone, Alix. “#MeToo and Time’s Up Founders Explain the Difference Between the 2 Movements — And How They’re Alike.” Time. 22 March 2018. Web.
Larabee, Ann. “Editorial: Celebrity, Politics, and the “Me, Too” Moment.” The Journal of Popular Culture 51.1 (2018): 7-9.
Lee, Bun-Hee. “#Me Too Movement; It Is Time That We All Act and Participate in Transformation.” Psychiatry Investigation 15.5 (2018): 433.
Manikonda, Lydia, et al. “#metoo Through the Lens of Social Media.” Thomson, Robert, et al. Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling. Springer, 2018. 104-110.
Newman, Rebecca. “#MeToo: The social media impact statement.” GQ. GQ, 15 Feburary 2018. Web.
Raliance. “The Facts Behind the #metoo Movement” Raliance. Ralliance, February 2018. Web.
Seales, Rebecca. “What has #MeToo actually changed?” BBC. BBC, 12 May 2018. Web.
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