A simple hashtag can spark a movement
I was recently informed about the #metoo trend that seems to be parading around all over social media as of late. It originally stemmed from all of the sexual allegations towards American film producer Harvey Weinstein as a multitude of women seeking a profession in acting came forward and replayed the stories of their sexually explicit accounts with Weinstein. This hashtag has acted as a baseline for women all over the world who have been sexually assaulted or harassed, to try to bring attention to how serious of a problem sexual exploitation is.
This is a wonderful thing. It is such a magnificent concept that women, globally, are brave enough to come out, having enough confidence to no longer hide their experiences in order to alert the world of this man-made pandemic.
In spite of saying that sexual assault is atrocious, I do not want to give off the feeling that I, in any way, shape or form, know what it feels like to have been sexually exploited. Because I do not. And that is a feeling that I would never wish to experience. I do not know what it feels like, and, in the attempt to help someone who does, I would never even try to relate. I have known, both male and female, people who have gone through events similar to those that as the women who testified against Weinstein went through. The most I could do, and all I knew I could do, was support them. Because, sexual assault and harassment is not something that you can simulate in your mind in order to relate to someone. There is no way, unless you have been in their situation, that you will ever be able to truly empathize with what this person is feeling. And, in speaking, to tell someone that they need to just “forget it” and “let it go,” or that “it will get better” and “it will go away in time,” is portraying utter ignorance on your part. I only mention these phrases, because each person, each victim– I have spoken to about this, has told me that people told them to just “forget it” and that “it will go away in time.” That a type of occasion that will not just leave you, and it will not just “go away in time.”
And though I have never personally been in a situation as such, that does not mean, under any circumstance; it does not make it to me, under any circumstance- an absolute atrocity that needs to be addressed just as much as the next.
In order to be sure that things such as sexual assault begin to close, more than just this #metoo must happen. People must slowly begin to pay attention and make a conscious effort to help put a stop to such kinds of exploitation. Otherwise, there is one other part of life that will be far out of reach for making the world a little less awful.
