#MeToo and The Silence Breakers of 2017 / Norman
The Me Too Movement, Before the Hashtag
The MeToo movement…
Tarana Burke founded Me Too long before the surge of hashtag activism made it a viral movement; one which encompasses even ongoing discussions on women’s experience as victims of sexual assault and the effort to mobilize entire communities in response to sexual and gender violence. The movement’s initial intention was to help victims feel safe in coming forward about the abuses they had experienced. Burke specifically intended to provide that space to women and girls of color in her local area. Her movement was a sort of response to a moment when 75% of students she presented a wellness program to in Alabama had expressed on sticky notes that they had experienced sexual violence, one in which she “discovered how rampant sexual assault was among middle school Black girls in Selma” 4.
…And beyond
The New York Times article published on October 5, 2017, covering Harvey Weinstein’s numerous accusations of sexual misconduct. Though Weinstein addressed his behavior as “hurtful” to his colleagues following eight different settlements from his victims, it came out from innumerous former employees that he had enforced a “code of silence” in the Weinstein Company which meant that his employees could not speak out on any conduct which could harm the business’ reputation. A common narrative emerged from the various women who came forward with accusations: They would be invited to a luxury hotel under the pretenses of work-related means, then find that Weinstein “seemed to have different interests” 5. The article, as well as others like it, prompted an influx of the hashtag “#MeToo” after one of his accusers, actress Alyssa Milano, asked people on twitter to respond a tweet with the words if they, too, had been victims of sexual violence.
Other possible connections to be made between that the traction attracted by the movement are the Time magazine article on “The Silence Breakers” 6 and the 2016 presidential election, won by Trump, despite his innumerous accusations of sexual abuse and misogyny. Furthermore, #MeToo’s presence was evident at the second Women’s March in 2017 which was said to have been powered by the fury women experienced after Trump’s election 7. Tarana Burke herself was as an attendant of the march.
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Tarana Burke expresses frustration over the shift MeToo took with its digitization through hashtag activism, something she had not foreseen when she founded the movement in 2006. After 2017, she notes how people started coming to her wanting to talk about Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelley, and that the celebrity-driven hashtag subverted attention from her original foundation of a movement intended mostly to support Black girls and women who were victims of sexual violence. Burke also notes that there are many issues to unpack issues of human rights in the Black community, the sexual violence against Black women must be equally discussed alongside mass incarceration and police violence 8.
4. Gregory, T. (2023, March 29). Tarana Burke discusses her me too movement, Hollywood’s hashtag co-opting of it. The University of Chicago Chronicle. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/tarana-burke-discusses-her-me-too-movement-hollywoods-hashtag-co-opting-it
5. Kantor, J., & Twohey, M. (2017, October 5). Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html
6. Zacharek, S., Dockterman, E., & Edwards, H. S. (2017). TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers. Time.com. https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers
7. Goldberg, M. (2023, May 9). The Fury of #MeToo Finally Comes for the Man Who Inspired It. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/opinion/e-jean-carroll-donald-trump-verdict-metoo.html
8. Gregory, T. (2023, March 29). Tarana Burke discusses her me too movement, Hollywood’s hashtag co-opting of it. The University of Chicago Chronicle. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/tarana-burke-discusses-her-me-too-movement-hollywoods-hashtag-co-opting-it
Image 2. Women’s March. District of Columbia Washington D.C. Washington D.C. United States, 2020. -10-17. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2023696298/.