Trigger Warning: mentions of sexual assault
January 1st, 2018, the Time’s Up campaign was initiated, ringing in the new year with empowerment and a promise for no more complacency with sexual assault. But it can be easy to have missed what this all means, what everyone is fighting for and what all these hashtags are actually doing in making a change. This is a brief rundown of what’s going on to get a better understanding of what it all means. This is in no way an exhaustive list of events; it is merely a starting point. There are far too many stories and voices to be shared here.
Seemingly, out of nowhere, Hollywood was wracked by a scandal the likes of which we haven’t ever seen before. The New Yorker and the New York Times both published accounts of numerous allegations of sexual harassment and assault against notable film producer Harvey Weinstein. By mid-October, thanks to the work of actress Alyssa Milano, the #metoo movement was reborn with the purpose of encouraging people to share their stories of harassment and assault in an attempt to show the full magnitude of the problem. And the great patriarchal power of Hollywood began to crumble. Way back in 2006, when many of us were only concerned by the premiere of the first High School Musical, Tarana Burke, an American civil rights activist, first used the phrase “me too” to bring awareness to the importance of discussing sexual assault in society where it seems everyone knows someone or is someone, who has experienced it. In 2017, it was reborn as a hashtag. By October 24th, a mere week after Milano tweeted, #metoo had reached 85 countries and had been used at least 1.7 million times. It’s only grown bigger.
The point of all of this is to open up discussion about the widespread issue. It is meant to change the narrative around sexual assault in that it is the connection between survivors, them coming together in their own terms, by their own volition. It is the importance of not being alone, and also the importance of the fact that this is not at all an isolated or insignificant issue. It has been incredible to see the people around me share their stories and to know that I am not alone in this, that there is support and kinship. But it’s also terrifying, to look around a classroom and think, “who else here is a victim? Who here is a perpetrator?” Hollywood, at the centre of the media gaze, has not been spared. Since the Weinstein scandal began, the floodgates have opened. Some of the biggest names that have been accused of misconduct are Aziz Ansari, Ben Affleck, and James Franco. Each of these three men mentioned have actively supported women in their careers. Both Ansari and Franco wore #TimesUp pins to the Golden Globes in solidarity with the campaign of the same name. Almost every story has centred around powerful men exerting control over people in lesser positions.
The Time’s Up campaign is a movement against sexual harassment in response to #metoo and the post-Weinstein climate. It has raised over $20 million for its legal defence fund set up to support women seeking justice for workplace harassment and assault who would not otherwise be able to afford it. At the 2018 Golden Globes, stars wore black to bring awareness and spoke out against harassment. It has become such a widespread campaign that “The Silence Breakers” – those who have spoken out about their assault to launch the movement – were named the TIME Person of the Year.
The reach of these stories, these movements, has shown the pervasiveness of the problem. That this is not something limited to Hollywood and the entertainment industry, but affects also the mall janitor, the daycare attendant, and us, the students. We need a unified voice through which we can fight back, and Hollywood, which has somehow become a political centrepiece, has proven to be an ally and a loud one at that. There are flaws in the campaigns, but it has offered us a start, a space from which we can grow until we win. It further reinforces the fact that we, when banded together, are fighters. Thanks to the work of Tarana Burke, Ashley Judd, Terry Cruz, and countless others, these movements have forced their way to global headlines and into every household. The fight is not over, but we’re only two months into the year.
If you’d like to learn more, read up and stay educated!
http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/sexual-harassment-assault-allegations-hollywood-music-entertainment