By Morgan Tessler
If you’ve used social media in the past week, you’ve probably seen a woman posting a status saying “Me Too.”
This campaign was started by Alyssa Milano – who asked that “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”
There have been more than 1 million tweets and 12 million posts about this on Facebook.
The campaign was supposed to show the magnitude of the problem of sexual assault and harassment.
Social media is impactful. As I walk around my campus, I see my fellow peers with their thumbs scrolling up, having their social medias refresh. I am also part of this phenomena.
As I went through my Facebook after getting out of my 8am the other day, I found myself consistently reading these “Me Too” posts. From my friends, family members, my mom.
You see the statistics. “1 in 4 women will experience sexual assault in college”. And you look at your group of you and your best friends. And you wonder. Which one of us is it going to be?
We avoid topics because they make us feel uncomfortable. But we should no longer avoid this. My shock as I saw so many people I loved and cared about had been through sexual harassment and assault and had never said a word broke my heart.
The fact I had ignored catcalls and laughed these things off which actually have made me uncomfortable. The fact that I apologize to people when I’m not comfortable with something they’re doing in my personal space. The fact I feel obligated to always go places in pairs. The fact I have to tell myself it’s not okay to feel like I should smile when a man makes me uncomfortable. These are problems. Problems don’t go away by ignoring our problems.
To all those who have been sexually harassed and assaulted – I stand with you. We stand together and we continue to strive for change.
Me. Too.