#Me Too is an international movement against sexual harassment and assault. It being used on social media to help demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault, especially in the work place. The term sexual harassment was only coined in 1975 by a group of women at Cornell University after an employee, Carmita Wood, filed for unemployment benefits after she had resigned because her supervisor touched her inappropriately (Reed, 2013). The term “Me Too” was first used more than a decade ago by social worker activist Tarana Burke as part of her work building solidarity among young survivors of sexual harassment and assault (Jaffe, 2018). In my opinion, the “me Too” movement is a movement which is set forth to reduce the sexual harassment/assault …show more content…
Although sexual assault is an intersectional issue, women of color, LGBT (minorities), have been seemingly shut out of the conversation, while the media endlessly highlights the stories of white women (Macias, 2017). Statistically, white women face a lesser rate of sexual violence than women of color (Macias, 2017). Burke herself states that the voice of marginalized individuals has always been ignored in the media and everywhere else, which makes it imperative that we push to make these stories heard on our own (Worthen, 2018). Even in today’s society, women of color are highly marginalized and treated in whatever way people deem necessary because it is believed that a woman of color is of no use and or value in the society even though it is not everyone who has that notion. Campaigns set out to be movements whereby individuals or a group of persons pertaining to a given organization go out to sensitize people, giving them the need and importance to join their organizations. It shares a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication. On the other hand, hashtag happens to be a type of metadata tag used on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, just to name a few. Tarana Burke makes us understand that the hashtags, especially that placed on the “Me Too” movement aims to show the magnitude of sexual assault/harassment
Hashtag MeToo. Does that sound familiar? The MeToo movement is one of the most influential movements of our time. According to cbsnews.com a movement that reached over 12 million posts on Facebook in just 24 hours. Most of you know the power of Me Too and some participants in it, such as Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne, Lupita Nyong’o, Lindsay Lohan, and many more according to CNN. However, you probably do not know who began this powerful movement. Her name is Tarana Burke. Tarana Burke is a sexual assault survivor herself and began the Me Too Movement in 2006 when she was having trouble with comforting a young girl, who had confided in Burke about her sexual assault experience according to brown.edu.
Women of color are treated differently; law does not function as a social mediator between relationships of all people. The focus is on women of colour and how non-white communities are considered inherently violent. By such stereotypes, rape myths create a belief that certain races are more dangerous than others, creating fear based on the social construction of society. Using the ``Slut Walk`` article as an example: women have argued ``it is different for a white middle class women to wear something slutty and march in a parade than a women of colour.`` Due to the social construction black woman are more likely to have their characters stereotype and are seen more promiscuous compared to white woman. (Julie Dowsett Lecture).Stereotyping has even gone so far where a police official made a comment about York university students, referring to the females saying “they should not dress like a slut” to reduce assault (Slutwalk 249). Such rape myths put women on the line, claiming that it is their fault for getting sexually assaulted because they provoke men. “Such stereotypical assumptions find their roots in many cultures, including our own. They no longer, however, find a place in Canadian law” (R. v. Ewanchuck
Angela Davis incorporates the theory of intersectionality to explain the emergence and inaccuracy of the myth of the black rapist in her paper. Within this paper, which is titled “Rape, Racism and the...
Liz, Kelly. “Moving in the Shadows: Violence in the Lives of Minority Women and Children”
Women’s issues are a huge concern to me as I transition into the adult world, especially when sexual assaults are associated with the college culture. From the streets of America to a child bride in Africa, women are suffering from abuse, harassment, and mistreatment. The feminist movement has enhanced life for women, but, in modern society, there are many areas that still need improvement. If we want to resolve issues over the treatment of women, we must tackle and overcome negative views of women, take preventive measures to ensure the safety of women, and bring attention to these injustices.
In some groups and nations, they have more opportunity and resources, while others struggle. Race and sexual orientation matter since they remain details for systems of power and inequality, that in spite diversity and be more significant of people’s lives. For example, sexual assault has become more important in society as individuals are still being physically abused and are being reported for sexual assault. Sexual assault includes attacks such as rape or attempted rape and unwanted sexual contact or threat. Studies show that 68% of the physically abused women reported sexual assault (McFarlane 2005). In my opinion, I believe no individual should get sexually abused because this is both physically and emotionally harmful to oneself. In this case Roxane Gay was also sexually abused, “We don’t necessarily know how to hear stories about any kind of violence, because it is hard to accept that violence is as simple as it is complicated” . This quote show that Gay was abused when in her childhood due to her obesity and weight gain. Although individuals may be overweight I believe they should not be physically or emotionally abused because it can lead to a numerous number of health issues in the
A careful examination of the sexual violence against african-american women in this piece reveals imbalances in the perceptions about gender, and sexuality shed that ultimately make the shift for equality and independence across race and class lines possible during this time period.
In the past century, America has made great leaps in terms of equality. With the efforts made by the civil rights and suffrage movements, all people gained the right to vote. We are even moving forward with marriage equality, and currently fifteen states recognize same-sex marriage. But regardless of all of our progressive institutional movements forward, we continue to socially oppress women. Men’s violence against women has grown to be an internationally recognized epidemic, and will continue to grow unless measures be made to stop it. Domestic violence continues to be prevalent in the lives of many families, and is the primary cause of homelessness in half of cases for women in children. Many women have been forced to alter their behaviors out of fear of being sexually or physically assaulted. One out of every three women is sexually or physically abused in their lifetimes. The first thing that comes to mind is, there are a lot of people abusing women out there. Many people with opposing ideas may claim that men can be victims of violence perpetrated by women, but in instances not used for self-defense, it is rarely part of a systematic pattern of power and control through force or threat of force. In fact, 99% of rape is perpetrated by men, but when confronting men about the issue of violence against women, it is often combated with denial. Jackson Katz writes in his book, The Macho Paradox, “We take comfort in the idea of the aforementioned child-rapist murderer as a horrible aberration. A monster. We’re nothing like him.”(Katz 30). The sad truth is that most women who are raped are raped by men they know, or even men they love. Many men have a hard time believing that saying that most violence is perpetuated by men does not...
... goal as feminists is to end gender-based violence, we must look at how dominant news outlets shape messages of sexual assault.
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
The film, Out in the Night documents a 2006 case in which a group of young African American lesbians were accused of gang assault and attempted murder. The film portrays how unconscious bias, institutional discrimination and racism contributed to the convictions of seven African American lesbian women. Three of the women pleaded guilty to avoid going to trial, but four did not. Renata Hill, Patreese Johnson, Venice Brown, and Terrain Dandridge maintained their innocence and each were charged with several years in prison. I cried through out the documentary because it dawned on me that it’s not safe for women, especially gay women of color. The four-minute incident occurred in Greenwich Village where Dwayne Buckle sexually and physically harassed
Elsa Barkley Brown focuses on the intersectionality of being a black woman in America, in “What Has Happened Here?”. Black women experience different forms of oppression simultaneously. Indeed, racism, sexism, classism, as well as heterosexism, intertwine and form layers of oppression.
Oftentimes, the things individuals take for granted as preexisting facts are merely the products of social construction, which exert tremendous impacts on belief and action. Men and women are socially constructed categories inscribed by norms of masculinity and femininity that enables rape to occur. Catharine MacKinnon claims that rape is defined in a male perspective, which lacks the account of female experience. On the other hand, Sharon Marcus argues that rape is a constructed language that scripts the female body. As bell hooks points out, black men celebrate “rape culture” as a mean of expressing patriarchal dominance and endorsing female subordination. In order to redefine rape and to develop effective rape prevention, it is crucial to deconstruct the predetermined assumptions about men and women. Rape is socially constructed, through the ways how individuals possess misogynistic ideologies and endorse patriarchal power, turning the erotic fantasy of male dominance into “reality”.
In todays society we still face issues of sexual harassed in our everyday life especially the workplace. Sexual harassment has been an ongoing issue in our society sometimes people speak out on the matter and sometimes they don't. The movement "Me Too" has captured the world attention by making headlines on all media sources. Social media has played a big part of the movement becoming so widely known for the hashtag Me Too know as "#MeToo" this, let's primarily women to share their story's of sexual harassment and sexual assault primarily in the workplace. The Me Too movement how's encourage a lot of victims to open up. This movement has become very important because people who are victims of sexual harassment or no longer alone and
Victims often find that they have to deal with a lot of harassment even after being shamed. For example, some men will come onto girls who have a reputation of being ‘sluts’ because they think the girls are going to be ‘easy’ and ‘into it”; thus, slut shaming can ruin how people, especially men, perceive and treat a woman. Slut shaming can also increase rape culture by discrediting a women’s allegation of rape due to her sexual history. In so many cases where rape is reported, officers and lawyers attack the victims by questioning how they were dressed prior to being rape, how they acted, were they being ‘promiscuous’, or were they flirting with their rapist; if any of the above questions were answered “yes” they would claim the victim was “asking for it”. In the Steubenville rape case, a 16 year old girl was recorded being raped by two football players at a party. The footage was later sent to other classmates and quickly spread throughout the whole school; as a result of the “stigma surrounding sexual assault, she [the victim] was labeled as a slut and viciously tormented by her classmates,” (Nelson, 3). In cases like these, girls are slut-shamed for being victims of sexual