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#MeToo Campaign Against Sexual Harassment trends over Social Media

Poorvi Gupta

17 Oct 2017 04:25 IST

New Update

Sexual harassment is an evil that women have been dealing with since centuries. However, it is only recently that we have started being upfront about reporting it. Recently, a global revolution emerged on social media where women from all parts of the world are posting #MeToo as their status to symbolise that they have been sexually harassed/ assaulted/ teased/propositioned/intimidated in the past. The campaign aims to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem, worldwide.

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Last week when Hollywood film executive Harvey Weinstein came under fire for alleged sexual harassment, abuse and assault, which gave way to this online protest. While Hollywood bigwigs are soon dissociating itself from the once industry Mogul, many actresses also came out to stand against him including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Rose McGowan.

#MeToo is good. But feminism can only succeed when all women have resources to be tech savvy and support structure to speak up.

-Shivani Channan

Coming back to the campaign, it is said to be started by actress Alyssa Milano on Sunday night. The actress asked fellow survivors of sexual abuse on Twitter to come forward and write #MeToo as their status.

If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2017

ALSO READ: TVF CEO Arunabh Kumar Resigns After Sexual Harassment Row

Since then almost 200,000 people have already posted it on their timelines in various different social media platforms. Some have even gone ahead with telling their stories of harassment and abuse.

In my long-term relationship with a sexist man, have experienced enough verbal abuse #MeToo
— Raksha Kumar (@Raksha_Kumar) October 16, 2017

The message that people are commonly passing around is, “If all the men and women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted write "Me too" as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”

The #MeToo tag, just like #YesAllWomen, is so important. We need to break the culture of silence & shame around #SexualViolence.
— Feminism in India (@FeminismInIndia) October 16, 2017

One Shivani Channan noted on Twitter how this campaign is restrictive of women who are online. She said, “#MeToo is good. But feminism can only succeed when all women have resources to be tech savvy and support structure to speak up.”

#MeToo is good . But feminism can only succeed when all women have resources to be tech savvy and support structure to speak up. ?
— Shivani channan ? (@DardEdiscourse) October 16, 2017

#meToo does it even need to be said. No more silence. Let's put the blame where it belongs
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) October 16, 2017

There is a clear abundance of women showing solidarity to the initiative and sharing experiences of harassment and abuse committed to them. In just one night the campaign travelled continents and yet there is an even larger number of women who aren’t online who cannot even show solidarity. These are the women who aren’t the part of the fight and suffer the most.