The viral #MeToo movement began with Tarana Burke and her experience with an important little girl. After sharing their trauma, she was unable to find the strength and the courage to say “me too.” This phrase has become something like the shot heard round the world. After all, 1 in 5 college women and 1 in 16 college men experience sexual assault sometime during their college career.
These statistics are even more daunting when they extend beyond just college students.
From Aly Raisman, of the Fierce Five, to the Hollywood surge of stars ready to come forward, last year the #MeToo movement took the world by storm and brought sexual assault to the forefront of media. The movement has been going strong ever since. This sensation, something that was amplified even faster with the reach of social media, has proven powerful throughout the country for those who want to speak up and cannot find the words.
#MeToo is one reason so many people have begun to realize that they are not alone in what they have been through.
Unfortunately, it can also be a trigger for countless sexual assault survivors who have a hard time working through that trauma.
Much in the way the suicide of public figures like Anthony Bourdain or Kate Spade may in turn impact those struggling with their own mental health, the same goes for sexual assault survivors. Although it is one thing to experience trauma and understand its impact, it is another thing to constantly see it on your phone or in the news media in a way that there is no escape.
It does not take a whole lot to make something go viral these days. Just take a quick look at Vine or even the phrase “weird flex, but okay.” These things went from being just another app or phrase to being constantly referenced faster than many people realized. The same has happened with the #MeToo movement.
Beyond triggering other victims or publicizing a person’s trauma, it also adds a layer of pressure for more victims to speak up. The problem with this is, just like any other kind of experience, it takes time for people to be ready to speak up. Those who have said the words “me too” may have been ready for the world, their friends and their family, to acknowledge what they’ve been through.
But those who are still struggling are not ready. And they need to know that it is okay not to be able to say it out loud.
An even more notable impact the movement can have on someone who has experienced sexual assault, is the incredibly important message coming through of support. This concept is something more than overturning the stigma of being a survivor or speaking up after all— it’s also about moving forward.
In the movement’s vision, Tarana Burke’s site metoomvmt.org reads, “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.”
This movement and its resources are here to help people who need it whether that is to say the words “me too” or come to terms with what they have been through; this is part of the healing. Though the media itself may force someone a few steps back in their journey by reopening the wounds that are yet to become scars, beyond the media of the #MeToo movement is healing and support.
So, before you retweet the next #MeToo Movement article in the name of feminism or question whether or not what someone claims truly happened, remember who’s around you and how little we all may know about a person’s experiences.
Although moments like #MeToo can truly change the world around us, they may also reflect a world that for someone, changed a long time ago.