#MeToo movement

"If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted, write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet". This was posted by actress Alyssa Milano on Twitter on October 15, 2017. Within 24 hours, over 500,000 Twitter posts had been written with the hashtag #MeToo. On Facebook, the hashtag had been used by over 4.7 million people within a day. The majority of those posting were women.

Today it has been used millions of times by people in at least 85 countries and mentioned in tens of thousands of blogs and thousands of news articles worldwide. And it is still being used. What led Alyssa Milano to write her Tweet was a newspaper article. She read about a very famous film producer in Hollywood who for over 30 years sexually harassed and abused women. It turned out that many women in the film industry had experienced sexual harassment and abuse.

And it soon became very clear that it is not only in the film industry that sexual abuse is common. But it was not actually Alyssa Milano who came up with the term Me Too. It was created by a civic activist, Tarana Burke, in 2006. She wanted to support black girls and women who had been sexually harassed and assaulted, and show them that they were not alone in their experiences. Milano's post, however, made the phrase ‘Me Too’ widely known.

All over the world, women now testified about sexual harassment and abuse. Some men, too, spoke out about being sexually abused. Hundreds of famous people supported MeToo and told their stories. Several well-known male actors, musicians, scientists and politicians were singled out as perpetrators. Many lost their jobs.

Some were prosecuted, some imprisoned. But the vast majority who raised their voices and dared to share their experiences were not famous. They were: engineers, teachers, flight attendants, researchers, nurses - mothers, daughters, sisters, wives and girlfriends. They shared about everything from unwanted sexual invitations and groping, to how they lost their job because they didn’t agree to have sex. Others described how they were raped.

The stories were many and they came from people of all ages, teenagers as well as ninety-year-olds. For many of the women sharing their stories, this was the first time they had been listened to. And many women who hadn't reported their abuse till now found the courage to go to the police and make a report. Many reports have led to prosecutions. Some countries have strengthened or written new laws against sexual harassment or discrimination against women.

But there has also been a lot of criticism of the MeToo movement, especially of how allegations have been covered in the media. Some believe that the media has been too quick to label people as sexual perpetrators with little evidence, only testimony. In Sweden, several media outlets were reported to the Swedish Press Council after publishing the names of people accused of sexual misconduct who were later acquitted. In some cases, people making false accusations of sexual misconduct have been convicted of libel, for lying. However, research shows that such false accusations are rare.

There are many different opinions about MeToo, but one thing is for sure. The hashtag has opened people's eyes to how many women have been and are subjected to sexual discrimination, harassment, and abuse.