On Oct. 5, The New York Times broke the story of Harvey Weinstein being accused of sexual harassment. A private investigation revealed sexual harassment allegations dating back to 1990. It was just a newspaper article and could have faded away from the minds of the people by some other breaking news. But things took an ugly turn when some of the leading actresses in the industry started accusing Harvey with allegations of them being sexually harassed and assaulted. More and more women started revealing their stories on how they were sexually harassed by one of the leading producers of Hollywood.
It all changed when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet,” Within minutes, #MeToo was all over Twitter and Facebook with women and men sharing their experiences and how they were offended by this social evil. Within 24 hours the numbers kept increasing, and I personally was astonished to see the number of people who were affected by this. People whom I know, people whom I meet on a daily basis, people whom I worked with. Almost everybody was sharing a #MeToo story.
Everyone knows that sexual harassment is a problem which exists everywhere and people are affected by it, but to what extent? Identifying sexual harassment can get confusing. Some people claim that non-consensual sex can be termed as sexual harassment, which is completely wrong. Sex without consent is a federal offense and it’s an act of violence known as rape. Catcalling, staring in a sexually offensive manner, making sexual comments about appearance or body parts is known as sexual harassment. It is not necessarily some form of physical contact between the parties involved. Sexual offenders act in a way that communicates aggression, hostility and a desire for control. They feel powerful by making someone feel inferior or uncomfortable.
Such incidents are happening in our daily life around us, and we may not be able to identify it. I was once traveling in a crowded subway during the peak rush hours. I noticed a woman who was struggling in the crowd, trying to find some space for herself. A station arrived and the doors opened and a huge crowd barged outside the train. The train emptied and everyone was relieved, except I noticed the same woman from before with tears in her eyes. I do not know exactly what must have transpired during the crowd leaving the train but it was obvious that she was sexually offended. She was helpless and terrified to even look at her surroundings.
Back in my high school, when I was 13, I was walking in the halls and I saw two guys fighting. All of a sudden one of the guys was pushed onto a girl against a wall. The girl screamed and paced away hurriedly. I was standing still, trying to process what had happened, when I saw the two guys walking away hysterically. They were pretending to be in a fight. I just walked away from the scene pretending nothing had happened. The girl was terrified. She did not speak a word about the incident at all through to the end of school. Both the women in the above stories were sexually harassed. They were sexually violated and it might have left a scar on them forever. I was there as it happened in front of me and I was helpless.
Sexual harassment can impact individuals in profound ways because it grows out of larger forms of individual oppression that we experience as young people. The #MeToo campaign has created awareness among individuals who think of it as a minor issue and indicates the extent to which sexual harassment is affecting people. I believe it is because of people like me and you who saw it happening in front of our eyes and decided not to do anything about it. It is because of us who decided to walk away as if nothing really happened. It could be a stranger on the subway or a person in the same school, women and men are affected by sexual harassment everywhere and it has to stop.
Let’s take a pledge to never let anything like this happen to anyone around us. Take a pledge to never stay silent and pretend nothing has happened. Take a pledge to never again, let any soul be terrorized by the evil known as sexual harassment.
#NeverAgain
