#MeToo
From Genesis to Revelation to Us by Captain Olivia Munn–Shirsath
“Me Too.”
Tarana Burke coined this phrase back in 2006. It all began with Myspace. Before Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook—there was Myspace. Today, this online platform still exists but is irrelevant to most of us. We often associate the Me Too movement with something more contemporary: the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations and subsequent trials. In October 2017, celebrity Alyssa Milano made the hashtag #MeToo go viral by tweeting, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” How swiftly and powerfully multitudes of women came together to openly share their stories of sexual harassment and assault from people of power. #MeToo created a sense of honesty and empathy that drew out testimonies from thousands of women online. Through the simple unifying tool of a hashtag, women realized that they were not alone, but that sadly, experiences of harassment are extremely common. Is this primarily a women’s issue? Yes, it largely is—91 percent of victims of rape and sexual assault are female and 9 percent are male. And while many may imagine these nightmare scenarios happening in a dark alley in the wrong part of town, in 8 out of 10 cases the victim knows the perpetrator. This widespread problem affects women around the world, and it affects the women you relate with every day.
A MASSIVE PROBLEM I want to say that the problem is bigger than we ever knew, but I’m not sure that’s the truth. We’ve always known that women are regularly on the receiving end of unwanted sexual advances. More than 1 in 3 women have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact
find us on facebook / estamos en facebook www.facebook.com/saconnects
at some point in their lives. Nearly 1 in 5 women have experienced completed rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes. These statistics are shocking. But #MeToo isn’t about the shock factor. It’s about how unsurprised women are. You’ve been sexualized against your will? So have I. We are half the global population, and yet we can all empathize together in this familiar experience. If the movement is intended to include harassment, as mentioned in the original tweet, almost 100 percent of women would be qualified to state “Yes. Me too.” Some women would choose not to participate in the #MeToo movement because of the pain of resurfacing trauma, and
“ More than 1 in 3 women have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact at some point in their lives.” this should be honored. But whether it is an extreme case of assault or just an unwanted comment, most women can relate to this movement. The magnitude is beyond what the general public previously acknowledged. Myspace is old, but the pattern of sexual harassment against women is even older. If Tarana Burke’s original post is from 2006 and didn’t gain momentum until it resurfaced 11 years later, how far back does this problem go? It goes back several millennia and has not improved through the generations. The crisis that #MeToo is addressing is not a trend that will fade away with today’s young people—this is a deeply–rooted human problem that has been passed down through the years and adapts to match the culture.
2020 MARCH / APRIL
11
