#MeToo

The Me Too movement (or #MeToo movement), with many local and international alternatives, is a
movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault. #MeToo spread virally in October 2017 as a
hashtag on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault
and harassment, especially in the workplace. It followed soon after the sexual abuse allegations
against Harvey Weinstein Tarana Burke, an American social activist and community organizer, began
using the phrase "Me Too" as early as 2006, and the phrase was later popularized by American
actress Alyssa Milano, on Twitter in 2017. Milano and Michael Baker encouraged victims of sexual
harassment to tweet about it and "give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem”. This was met
with success that included but was not limited to high-profile posts from several American
celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence, and Uma Thurman.

History & Vision

The ‘me too.’ movement was founded in 2006 to help survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black
women and girls, and other young women of color from low wealth communities, find pathways to healing.
Our vision from the beginning was to address both the dearth in resources for survivors of sexual
violence and to build a community of advocates, driven by survivors, who will be at the forefront of
creating solutions to interrupt sexual violence in their communities.

In less than six months, because of the viral #metoo hashtag, a vital conversation about sexual violence
has been thrust into the national dialogue. What started as local grassroots work has expanded to reach a
global community of survivors from all walks of life and helped to de-stigmatize the act of surviving by
highlighting the breadth and impact of a sexual violence worldwide.

Our work continues to focus on helping those who need it to find entry points for individual healing and
galvanizing a broad base of survivors to disrupt the systems that allow for the global proliferation of
sexual violence.

Our goal is also to reframe and expand the global conversation around sexual violence to speak to the
needs of a broader spectrum of survivors. Young people, queer, trans, and disabled folks, Black women
and girls, and all communities of color. We want perpetrators to be held accountable and we want
strategies implemented to sustain long term, systemic change.

How We Do the Work: Supporting Survivor Healing

and Community-Based Action to Interrupt Sexual
Violence
The ‘me too’ movement supports survivors of sexual violence and their allies by connecting survivors to
resources, offering community organizing resources, pursuing a ‘me too’ policy platform, and gathering
sexual violence researchers and research. ‘Me Too’ movement work is a blend of grassroots organizing to
interrupt sexual violence and digital community building to connect survivors to resources.

As the ‘me too’ movement affirms empowerment through empathy and community-based action, the work
is survivor-led and specific to the needs of different communities.

Tarana Burke began ‘me too’ with young Black women and girls from low wealth communities. She
developed culturally-informed curriculum to discuss sexual violence within the Black community and in
society at large. Similarly, the ‘me too’ movement seeks to support folks working within their communities
to attend to the specific needs of their community/communities, i.e. supporting disabled trans survivors
of color working to lead and craft events/toolkits/etc. with other disabled trans survivors. Together, we
can uplift and support each other to strengthen a global movement to interrupt sexual violence.

The Inception
The ‘me too’ Movement™ started in the deepest, darkest place in my soul.

As a youth worker, dealing predominately with Black children and children of color, I had seen and heard
my share of heart-breaking stories—from broken homes to abusive or neglectful parents—when I met
Heaven.

During an all-girl bonding session at our youth camp, several of the girls in the room shared intimate
stories about their lives. Some were the tales of normal teenage angst, but others were quite painful.
Just as I had done so many times before, I sat and listened to the stories, and comforted the girls as
needed. When it was over, the adults advised the young women to reach out to us if they ever needed to
talk or if they needed something else—and then we went our separate ways.

The next day, Heaven—who had been in the previous night’s session—asked to speak with me privately.
Heaven was a sweet-faced little girl who clung to me throughout the camp. However, her hyperactive and
often anger-filled behaviour betrayed both her name and light, high-pitched voice and I was frequently
pulling her out of some type of situation.

As she attempted to talk to me that day, the look in her eyes let me know that this conversation would be
different. She had a deep sadness and a yearning for confession that I read immediately and I wanted no
part of it.

Finally, later in the day she caught up with me and almost begged me to listen. I reluctantly conceded, and
for the next several minutes this child, Heaven, struggled to tell me about her “stepdaddy”—rather, her
mother’s boyfriend—who was doing all sorts of monstrous things to her developing body. I was horrified
by her words, and the emotions welling inside of me ran the gamut.
I listened until I literally could not take it anymore-/which turned out to be less than 5 minutes. Then,
right in the middle of her sharing her pain with me, I cut her off and immediately directed her to another
female counselor who could “help her better.”

I will never forget the look on her face.

I will never forget the look on her face because it haunts me. I think about her all of the time. The shock of
being rejected, the pain of opening a wound only to have it abruptly forced closed again – it was all on her
face. As much as I love children, as much as I cared about that child, I could not find the courage that she
had found.

As much as I loved her, I could not muster the energy to tell her that I understood, that I connected, that I
could feel her pain. I couldn’t help her release her shame, or impress upon her that nothing that happened
to her was her fault. I could not find the strength to say out loud the words that were ringing in my head
over and over again as she tried to tell me what she had endured.

I watched her walk away from me as she tried to recapture her secrets and tuck them back into their
hiding place. I watched her put her mask back on and go back into the world like she was all alone and I
couldn’t even bring myself to whisper…me too.

– Tarana Burke
Founder, The ‘me too.’ Movement

Purpose
The original purpose of "Me Too" as used by Tarana Burke in 2006, was to empower women through empathy, especially young and
vulnerable women. In October 2017, Alyssa Milano encouraged using the phrase as a hashtag to help reveal the extent of problems with
sexual harassment and assault by showing how many people have experienced these events themselves.

Awareness and empathy

Analyses of the movement often point to the prevalence of sexual violence, which has been estimated by the World Health
Organization to affect one-third of all women worldwide. A 2017 poll by ABC News and The Washington Post also found that 54% of
American women report receiving "unwanted and inappropriate" sexual advances with 95% saying that such behaviour usually goes
unpunished. Others state that #MeToo underscores the need for men to intervene when they witness demeaning behaviour.
Burke said that #MeToo declares sexual violence sufferers are not alone and should not be ashamed. Burke says sexual violence is
usually caused by someone the woman knows, so people should be educated from a young age they have the right to say no to sexual
contact from any person.

Policies and laws

Burke has stated the current purpose of the movement is to give people the resources to have access to healing, and advocates for
changes to laws and policies. Burke has highlighted goals such as processing all untested rape kits, re-examining local school policies,
improving the vetting of teachers, and updating sexual harassment policies.
Others have suggested that barriers to employment must be removed, such as the job requirement by some employers to sign non-
disclosure agreements or other agreements that prevent an employee from talking about their employment publicly, or taking disputes
(including sexual harassment claims) to arbitration or legal proceedings. It's been suggested that legislation should be passed that bans
these types of mandatory pre-employment agreements.
Media coverage
In the coverage of #MeToo, there has been widespread discussion about the best way for sufferers of sexual abuse or harassment to
stop what is happening to them at work. There is general agreement that a lack of effective reporting options is a major factor that
drives unchecked sexual misconduct in the workplace.
False reports of sexual assault are rare but when they happen, they are put in the spotlight for the public to see. The media does this to
portray the image that the majority of the reported sexual assaults are falsely reported by women. However, falsely reported sexual
assaults only make up 3% of the total amount that are reported. This doesn’t even take into account the amount of women that still
don’t report their stories. This is yet another reason why women are scared to report their experiences with sexual assault because
they are afraid that no one will ever believe their story and in the process they will have embarrassed and humiliated themselves.

Issues with social norms

In the wake of #MeToo, many countries such as the U.S., India, France, China, Japan, and Italy, have seen discussion in the media on
whether cultural norms need to be changed for sexual harassment to be eradicated in the workplace.
Dr. John Launer of Health Education England stated leaders must be made aware of common "mismatches of perceptions" at work to
reduce incidents where one person thinks they are flirting while the other person feels like they're being demeaned or harassed.
Reporter Anna North from Vox states one way to address #MeToo is teach children the basics of sex. North states the cultural notion
that women do not enjoy sex leads men "to believe that a lukewarm yes is all they're ever going to get", referring to a 2017 study which
found that men who believe women enjoy being forced into sex are "more likely to perceive women as consenting".
Professor Daniel Drezner stated that #MeToo laid the groundwork for two major cultural shifts. One is the acceptance that sexual
harassment (not just sexual assault) is unacceptable in the workplace. The other is that when a powerful person is accused of sexual
harassment, the reaction should be a presumption that the less powerful accuser is "likely telling the truth, because the risks of going
public are great." However, he states society is struggling with the speed at which change is being demanded.

Reform and implementation

Although #MeToo initially focused on adults, the message spread to students in K–12 schools where sexual abuse is common both in
person and online. MeTooK12 is a spin-off of #MeToo created in January 2018 by the group Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, founded by
Joel Levin and Esther Warkov, aimed at stopping sexual abuse in education from kindergarten to high school

Role of men
There has been discussion about what possible roles men may have in the #MeToo movement. It has been noted that 1 in 6 men have
experienced sexual abuse of some sort during their lives and often feel unable to talk about it. Creator Tarana Burke and others have
asked men to call out bad behaviour when they see it, or just spend time quietly listening. Some men have expressed the desire to keep
a greater distance from women since #MeToo went viral because they do not fully understand what actions might be considered
inappropriate. For the first few months after #MeToo started trending, many men expressed difficulty in participating in the
conversation due to fear of negative consequences, citing examples of men who have been treated negatively after sharing their
thoughts about #MeToo.

Criticism
Undefined purpose
Some feminists and women criticized the movement.
There has been discussion about whether the movement is meant to inspire change in all men or just a percentage of them, and what
specific actions are the end goals of the movement. Other women have stated #MeToo should examine only the worst types of abuse in
order to prevent casting all men as perpetrators, or causing people to become numb to the problem.

Possible trauma to victims

The hashtag has been criticized for putting the responsibility of publicizing sexual harassment and abuse on those who experienced it,
which could be re-traumatizing. The hashtag has been criticized as inspiring fatigue and outrage, rather than emotionally dense
communication.
Tony Robbins said he was "knocking victimhood" from the movement. The motivational speaker was also scrutinized for comments he
made criticizing the movement, implying that women are victimizing themselves to gain significance. He later apologized adding, "I need
to get connected to the brave women of #MeToo."

Not including prostitutes

There have been many calls for the #MeToo movement to include sex workers and sex trafficking victims. Although these women
experience a higher rate of sexual harassment and assault than any other group of people, they are often seen in society as legitimate
targets that deserve such acts against them.

Fact-checking
There has been discussion about the extent to which accusers should be believed before fact-checking. Some have questioned whether
the accused are being punished without due process confirming their guilt.
Many commentators have responded that the number of false reports is expected to be low, citing figures obtained by the U.S.
Department of Justice and other organizations which estimate the number of false rape accusations to be around 2–10%. However, the
2-10% figure refers to rape reports which are found to be false, and does not include cases in which it cannot be established if the
accused is innocent or guilty.

Not addressing police misconduct

Despite the prevalence of sexual misconduct, some have pointed out the lack of discussion in the #MeToo movement regarding law-
enforcement misconduct. Police sexual misconduct disproportionately affects women of color, though women from all walks of life are
affected. The Cato Institute reported that in 2010, more than 9% of police misconduct reports in 2010 involved sexual abuse, and there
are multiple indications that "sexual assault rates are significantly higher for police when compared to the general population." Fear of
retribution is considered one reason some law-enforcement officers are not subjected to significant consequences for known
misconduct.

Lack of representation of minority women

Many have pointed to a lack of representation of minority women in the #MeToo movement or its leadership. Most historical feminist
movements have contained active elements of racism, and have typically ignored the needs of non-white women despite the fact that
minority women are more likely to be targets of sexual harassment.

Overemphasis on specific cases

The #MeToo movement has been criticized for putting too much public focus on the consequences of specific individuals who have been
accused of sexual misconduct, as opposed to discussing policies and changes to institutional norms that would help people who are
currently experiencing sexual abuse. It's been noted that although allegations surrounding high-profile public figures tends to attract
the most attention, the stories of regular workers often go unacknowledged.