You are not alone. Together we can de-stigmatize speaking out about our experiences with sexual harassment, assault, and more.
Female, 20, USA, Anonymous: "I was reaching the age of fifteen. I was sitting on the floor, picking at our stained carpet while simultaneously flipping through my older brothers yearbook from the year prior. I remember wanting very badly to attend this school after hearing the stories he would come home with, going on about the positives. The high school I was originally attending was too large and far too complicated for me. I decided to leave the mainstream school nearest to me and, with great joy in my heart, transferred to the small facility.
Me too.If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote "Me too" as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.
You see "Me too" on your Facebook and you think, "Stop making yourself a victim." You think, "Stop living in the past." You think, "You're exaggerating the problem, exaggerating the pain." And if you don't understand, you may think those are fair things to say. Honestly, that means you are lucky because that means that you've never felt the need to cover every inch of your body for fear of what will be said about skin showing. You've never walked down the street in fear you'll run into that one person you know always makes you feel uncomfortable because while you've stated you’re not interested they continue to make sexual advances. If you're against the "Me too" trend, as some are calling it, you've never sat in a room so self-conscious of your body you have no idea what anyone else is saying.
So, the last few weeks have been filled with news from Hollywood about Harvey Weinstein and the numerous women coming forward with a voice. I've had a lot of thoughts go through my head about it all... "What a disgusting man," "What brave women," "Are men really supporting him?"
Change can’t happen without a little discomfort. What I’m about to talk about makes me uncomfortable, because I worry about distressing people who've had traumatic experiences and I don’t want to shock or upset others who might be living in ignorant bliss…there’s one other fear I have, but I’ll tell you that later. The fact is the following affects us all, and I believe the solution is for people to speak up. So if I don’t speak out myself, I’ll be the ultimate hypocrite. So here goes…*trigger warning.*
Today on Facebook, several friends of mine posted a copy/paste update that read like this: "Me too. If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote "Me too." as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.