By Freddie Coudret
Sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and rape are rapidly
growing problems in the United States today. This issue unfortunately hits very
close to home, as it is such a relevant problem on our campus here at DePauw. Every
day I read about men from all areas of society, whether it be politicians, star
athletes, artists or even actors taking advantage of their positions of power
to mistreat women. However, this is not a new problem, it is age old. The
#MeToo movement has played an integral role in the quest of women finding the
strength to find a space in which they feel comfortable to be heard as victims
of sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and/or rape. Twitter has especially been
an extremely powerful fuel to the #MeToo movement. As it functions as a
hashtag, Twitter has allowed for the #MeToo testimonies and the subsequent
stories to be located, shared, and brought to attention rather easily. This
allowed for more women to find a comfortable haven to simply be heard by other
women who have experienced similar misfortunes. As the movement grew on
Twitter, the #MeToo hashtag started trending, and as a result, millions
throughout the Twitter community were exposed to the movement. The movement and
its effects were seen everywhere you looked, gaining massive news media
coverage with accusations against powerful men like Harvey Weinstein and Matt
Lauer, all while continuing its wide exposure through Twitter. Not only is it
an online fight, Anita Hill, the law professor who accused current Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has helped create Legal Network for Gender
Equity to be a part of the solution on the frontlines through the legal side of
the problem, (Ricker, 2018, p.1).The goal of this movement was just that, to
get the word out, allowing women to feel empowered and supported enough to tell
their stories.
Sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and rape are rapidly
growing problems in the United States today. This issue unfortunately hits very
close to home, as it is such a relevant problem on our campus here at DePauw. Every
day I read about men from all areas of society, whether it be politicians, star
athletes, artists or even actors taking advantage of their positions of power
to mistreat women. However, this is not a new problem, it is age old. The
#MeToo movement has played an integral role in the quest of women finding the
strength to find a space in which they feel comfortable to be heard as victims
of sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and/or rape. Twitter has especially been
an extremely powerful fuel to the #MeToo movement. As it functions as a
hashtag, Twitter has allowed for the #MeToo testimonies and the subsequent
stories to be located, shared, and brought to attention rather easily. This
allowed for more women to find a comfortable haven to simply be heard by other
women who have experienced similar misfortunes. As the movement grew on
Twitter, the #MeToo hashtag started trending, and as a result, millions
throughout the Twitter community were exposed to the movement. The movement and
its effects were seen everywhere you looked, gaining massive news media
coverage with accusations against powerful men like Harvey Weinstein and Matt
Lauer, all while continuing its wide exposure through Twitter. Not only is it
an online fight, Anita Hill, the law professor who accused current Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has helped create Legal Network for Gender
Equity to be a part of the solution on the frontlines through the legal side of
the problem, (Ricker, 2018, p.1).The goal of this movement was just that, to
get the word out, allowing women to feel empowered and supported enough to tell
their stories.
I had the
amazing opportunity to attend a talk given here at DePauw by the founder of the
#MeToo movement, Tarana Burke. She was an outstanding speaker and revealed that
she, too, has been a victim of sexual assault. Burke told the audience, and as
it is well known, there is an opposition to this movement. The opposition
believes that this movement exists to topple men in power and destroy their
careers and reputations. However, the goal of the #MeToo movement is not to do
so. While the fight against sexual assault has gained a lot of traction over
the last couple years, its one flaw is that it only recently began garnering
attention. For many years in the United States, and on many college campuses
just like our home here at DePauw, sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and rape
has been widely silenced by the very institutions and people that are in power.
Burke had the idea to continue with the #MeToo movement when she was working as
a camp counselor. Burke was told by a young girl in whom she was very close
with that she had in fact been sexually assaulted. Burke did not know what to
say at first, but after some time, she had figured out what to tell the girl.
Tarana Burke told the young girl that she had unfortunately fallen victim to
sexual assault. From there, the movement aimed to create a space in which women
felt comfortable to tell their story. The #MeToo movement continues to grow
through Twitter and beyond as celebrities and powerful lawyers joined forces to
aid in the fight Burke began, (Ricker, 2018, p. 1). Women find their
comfortable space to share their story through social media outlets as stories
are heard, re-posted, and shared every day.
Keywords: DePauw, #MeToo, sexual assault,
Tarana Burke, Twitter
Word Count: 605
References
Ricker, D. (2018). pass:[#]MeToo movement sparks national
legal response. ABA Journal, 104(3), 1.
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Freddie,
ReplyDeleteGood to see you taking up hashtag activism and gender inequality in this post.
Seems you gained important insight during Burke's recent visit to DePauw. And, as you correctly point out, often times it isn't simply a matter of one man assaulting a woman that's the issue. Rather, it's the institutional silence (or victim blaming) that allows such criminal behavior to persist.
As I read this and you called attention to the importance of a safe space for women to tell their stories, I thought you might reference some of our course readings and discussions that emphasize the significance of personal narratives as well as the use of digital media to construct project identities. That's a missed opportunity.
More critically, in future you really should consult a substantive academic analysis, rather than a short, opening statement as you've done here. For instance, why not consult research that examines social justice work in digital space? Or how about scholarship that discusses hashtag activism more directly, then use this sort of work to inform your essay.
We'll let that one go for now. However, problems with formatting (font size, APA reference) will cost you. All the more reason to have your writing "partners" review your work before and immediately following publication (in case errors get introduced when posting to blog).
26 pts.
ReplyDeleteFreddie,
I think you did really well job by localizing your blog post to DePauw and drawing in on points you got from Tarana Burkes talk, as we all know it is such a prevalent issue on our campus. I liked how you said this problem has been around for ages and not a new one, yet it is just recently becoming more prevalent and talked about in our society. A big reason is due to social media. An important aspect you touched on was more women are gaining the strength to speak out about these issues that they have been dealing with all of their lives- like Howley said, the idea of victim blaming keeps women silence and lets the criminal behavior continue- until now. I think it would have been interesting to cite Kidd and his chapter on social media activism because he brings up really good points that relate to this topic and movement perfectly. Good job on your post!