By Faith Speece
#MeToo went viral in October 2017 soon after the public claims of sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein. The hashtag has been used millions of times since then to demonstrate the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment.
Sexual assault in the US is a huge problem. Every 98 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. Every 8 minutes that victim is a child. Only 6 out of 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison.
Celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Debra Messing, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Cara Delevingne, and many others, including ordinary people, have used the hashtag to share their experiences.
This hashtag started a world of its own; it was not just another trending topic on Twitter. It inspired millions to share their stories and take a stand. It started a whole movement.
The purpose behind #MeToo was to break the silence around sexual assault. In many ways it was successful. It got people talking about a very controversial topic.The movement built awareness about a prevalent problem in society, sexual assault, and how victims of this are repeatedly silenced.
According to biology teacher Leigh Foy, who attended this year’s women’s march, “For too long, women and others voices in our society have not been heard enough. So it is kind of like if you were balancing sound, and you had too much of one sound and you didn’t have enough of another sound. You would not have beautiful music. So unrepresented people’s voices have not been heard and so the #MeToo movement is a way of making others voices be heard, that will make the music that we make as a whole country better and more beautiful.”
Many things have been changing in the Hollywood scene thanks to the hashtag. A lot of the accused assaulters have been fired from the movie industries, some have even been brought up on charges. For example, Harvey Weinstein was fired after a total of 84 woman (some of who used the hashtag) came forward with accusations of sexual assault. No legal action has been taken against him.