Via Elisha D.

Santos Persuasive Speech

11-Socrates

#MeToo

Good afternoon ladies and gentleman. Before anything else, I just want you all to listen to a story.
A story of a weak, defenseless and somewhat… harmless girl. She was walking down their street
on the way home, about 7 in the evening because their class finished practicing for a play later
than usual. Take note that she is wearing her uniform; blouse, ribbon, I.D., skirt, black shoes and
white socks. It is when she felt someone was watching her… following her. Scared as she is, she
walked faster. But as soon as she reached a pivot, 3 guys blocked her, smiling… staring. Fear
enveloped her for she knew what might happen already. She threw her bag at them and started
running. “Faster, I need to be faster,” she thought. But all hopes vanished when she felt her hair
being pulled. Pulled until they stopped somewhere hidden, dark, and quiet. Aside from her
pounding heart, she can only hear the evil laughs of the men around her. One… two… three…
four… five… she never thought she could hate not just one but five people this much. Even if
everything’s hazy, she managed to ask them, with a hoarse voice, why? This, my friends, happen
in real life. This can happen to literally anyone, no matter what your gender is, no matter how you
look, no matter what your age is, and no matter how you dress, this can happen. If it wasn’t still
clear, sexual violence, especially against women, is rampant. In the last two years alone, high
profile cases of sexual violence have been reported.

Being a victim of sexual harassment have no pro, but has lots of cons. 95% of sexually harassed
women suffer from some debilitating stress reactions including anxiety, depression, headaches,
sleep disorders, weight loss, nausea, lowered self-esteem, and trauma. To stop these, the most
and only effective weapon against sexual harassment is prevention, because raping or harassing
is a choice. When you see someone alone, it’s your choice to rape. When you’re in an elevator
with a woman, it’s your choice to harass. When you saw a drunk woman, it’s your choice to take
advantage. When you see someone wearing revealing clothes, it’s your choice to catcall. It was
never the victim’s fault. Don’t blame them for not being able to fight back, don’t blame them if
they were afraid, don’t blame them for their clothes, for drinking with guys, for walking alone, or
for coming home late. Most certainly, don’t blame them for not being able to tell anyone. You
don’t expect a victim to smile at you and say, “Hi, my name’s Maxine and I was raped yesterday.”
It’s not easy to talk about it. When you’re a victim, people will ask you a lot of times on what
happened which means reliving the incident over and over again. Some victims were forced to
say different things from what really happened because they can’t handle the questions, that’s
why a lot of victims chose not to tell and not to report because they just want to forget everything.
So, if someone happen to tell you something about an incident, and they can’t seem to speak
up, listen. Be a voice for those who have imprisoned tongues, for the people who have to see the
cruelty of this world in a hard way, be their voice. Be our voice. Because you cannot tell that we
are free until all of us are.

No matter how many laws, no matter how cautious you are, as long as there’s someone out there
who pleasures on harassing people, we are all not safe. No one is safe as long as there are people
who can’t control their sexual desires. All that’s left to do is stand up. If we can’t stop them by
crying and begging, then might as well stop them by force. Step up, and fight back. This is not the
end; we are just starting. This is a war we have to win. We are not objects to entertain you. We are
not objects to be played at. We are not objects to be used when you want to. We are humans,
with feelings, and we have our own decisions. When we say no, that means we don’t want what
you’re doing. When we told you to stop, then do so! Don’t ever think of harming us again because
this time, we are going to fight. We are going to show everyone that we are not the people to
mess up with. Yes, you heard it right, WE; because like all the other victims, #MeToo. So, what are
you waiting for? Fight… for us