Imagine sending out a tweet, going to bed, and waking up to 53,000 replies. That is what happened to actress Alyssa Milano when she decided on the evening of Oct. 15, 2017, to send a tweet in support of her friend who had been assaulted by Hollywood mogul, Harvey Weinstein.
Alyssa Milano’s Tweet read, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”
The impact of this single tweet was enormous. By Oct. 16, Twitter confirmed to CNN that people had used the hashtag in tweets more than half a million times and within 24 hours, nearly five million people on Facebook used the hashtag.[1] Facebook soon reported that 45 percent of its U.S. users had a friend who had posted using the term.[2]
Now, Time magazine’s editors have selected the #MeToo movement and the people behind it (The Silence Breakers) as the Person of the Year for 2017. However, the “Me Too” movement is not entirely new: Tarana Burke, an activist and supporter of victims of sexual abuse named her movement “Me Too” in 2006. She coined the term to show support for the girls and women in her community who have experienced sexual violence and viewed “Me Too” as a way to show empathy and solidarity for what they’d been through.
Burke never anticipated “Me Too” would be such an instrument of change, but Milano’s tweet galvanized women in a manner that was unprecedented. Clearly, there were myriad factors that played a role in birth of this movement:
- The year began with the 2017 Women’s Marches across the nation to push for legislation and policies supporting human rights, women’s rights and other issues.
- Journalist Ronan Farrow deeply investigated Harvey Weinstein, and while NBC initially passed on running his story on grounds it was incomplete, he did more work on it and took it to The New Yorker which published it on Oct. 10.[3] (This once again demonstrates the power and value of investigative journalism. For more on this topic, please see my blog The Importance of Investigative Journalism.)
- Finally, social media and #MeToo gave many women the opportunity to identify themselves as the victims of inappropriate or unwanted sexual attention, abuse or violence — which emboldened many others to come forward.
According to academics, social movements have a life cycle. They have a period where they emerge, coalesce, grow, achieve success and then dissolve and it makes one wonder at what stage we are today. Will the #MeToo movement continue to grow? Will this movement have a longer-term impact on workplace and societal norms? It is true that many prominent men have lost their jobs, but will there truly be lasting change? And if there are changes, what metrics will measure them?
While there has been significant analysis of the effectiveness of boycotts, it can be challenging to determine their effectiveness, in part because it is hard to determine the specific objectives of the individuals participating in them. Can’t the same be true for the #MeToo movement?
I hope this is not the case. All people deserve the opportunity to work in an environment that is free from harassment and the abuse of power. Furthermore, individuals who have abused their power should not be in leadership positions in business, government, or in our community.
As Abraham Lincoln said: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Shouldn’t our leaders be people of upstanding character? Otherwise, who wants to follow them?
For more about Time magazine’s Person of the Year and the #MeToo movement, please check out these articles:
- Washington Post – #MeToo? In 80 years, no American woman has won Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ by herself
- Time Magazine – The Story Behind the Woman You Don’t See on TIME’s Person of the Year Cover
- CNN – How #MeToo could move from social campaign to social change
[1] CNN, Cassandra Santiago and Doug Criss. “An Activist, a little girl and the heartbreaking origin of ‘Me too”.
CNN. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
[2] France, Lisa Respers (October 16, 2017). “#MeToo: Social media flooded with personal stories of assualt”.
CNN. Retrieved December 7, 2017
[3] Puente, Maria (December 1, 2017) “After Matt Laurer firing, NBC chief Andy Lack faces more questions about a network in crisis”.
USA Today. Retrieved December 7, 2017.