Five Things You Need to Know About The #MeToo Campaign

Since Sunday, social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook have been set ablaze by two simple words: Me Too. To find out more about this notorious movement, read on below. 1. It was started by Alyssa Milano The movement was initiated by actress Alyssa Milano when she tweeted the above on Sunday. By saying #MeToo Milano pushed for much need awareness regarding sexual harassment and assault. The tidal wave of tweets and posts that followed took the internet by storm in the hours following Milano’s post and is still going strong. 2. The campaign started following the Harvey Weinstien scandal More than 30 accusers stepped forward against the American film producer and former film studio executive, Harvey Weinstein. Charges of assault, harassment and even rape have been brought up against Weinstein. Amongst the women who stepped forward are decorated actresses including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Léa Seydoux, and Cara Delevingne. Weinstein has been disgraced and in addition to losing his job and his wife, he has been stripped of his membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. However, Alyssa Milano has not admitted that the campaign is a direct response to the Weinstein scandal along with the dozen women speaking out against the disgraced movie mogul. 3. #MeToo has been tweeted 500,000 times Women all over the world were encouraged to share the hashtag to show how prevalent sexual harassment is. Following Alyssa Milano’s post, twitter reported that #MeToo had been tweeted half a million times in the first 24 hours alone. The hashtag was also shared by notable women of the industry such as Anna Paquin and Debra Messing. Seeing the sheer magnitude of this movement, we must ask ourselves, what can we do to change the narrative? 4. Men have also joined in on the Campaign Women aren’t the only ones lending their voice to this campaign. Many men have joined in to raise awareness against sexual assault and harassment, urging men to take responsibility for their actions. 5. #MeToo is just the tip of the iceberg Unfortunately, the #MeToo campaign is just the tip of the iceberg. There are millions of individuals without internet access who face the same fate on a daily basis. Raising awareness about sexual harassment is much needed, but the movement coined by Milano must also be acted upon if we want to see a change in the way women are treated in the workplace and in society.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *