A proposal: Let’s use the hashtag #MeTooSTEAMM (instead of #MeTooSTEM) from now on
Today I read in tweets and in Michael Balter’s blogpost that a #MeTooSTEM journalism event was recently cancelled over a dispute of using the #MeTooSTEM hashtag name. I also know of BethAnn McLaughlin’s work and have interviewed her for our blog. I also regularly read Meredith Wadman’s articles in Science Magazine and like those. All these works are of incredible value to us as a society and scientific community. We want all of you to continue doing this good work and we are championing you all. Confronting the problem of abuse and harassment is such an important issue of our times. I am so glad that so many groups are contributing in their own ways to solve this monster problem.
While the hashtag #MeTooSTEM sounds generic (and is the root of this friction), I understand from the twitter threads by Balter and McLaughlin and from the above blogpost that metoostem.com and BethAnn McLaughlin wants to own and use it for their metoostem.com non-profit (and has applied for a trademark). I see her concern and the confusion that the people might get into about who is fundraising or donating and whether it is relating to their non-profit or some other org. I understand that she has asked the (now cancelled) journalist panel to not use the hashtag. It is unfortunate that the panel event got cancelled. I think a lot of people might have benefitted from it.
On the other hand, we can also try and understand McLaughlin’s reaction to this seemingly small issue of using a hashtag. We must understand/recall that she had recently been a victim of reporting harassment, and went through all the trauma of handling it and coming out burnt. We must remember that people who suffer through these experiences feel like they are being silenced all the time. It is a natural subliminal, involuntary reaction resulting from the trauma incurred that they must not let others silence them any more. Nothing we do can stop this automatic reaction — only years of therapy can (after many many years). Plus she is also working very hard to fight for these hard causes with a specific mission in mind. We must sympathize.
However we also want anyone out there to keep doing the good work in this domain without getting into a friction with the non-profit. That would be unproductive. We want to be able to use a name that shorthands and consolidates the valuable work the community is doing. There are people and groups working outside of what is included in the mission of the non-profit metoostem.com efforts (the non-profit is focussed on centering victims and their healing process). We need to include all these peoples’ work under one tag — people who are not working with metoostem.com but working for the cause of metoo in science. You are all very brave, and we as a community who supports this cause should champion you all. On the reverse side, we also want to respect McLaughlin’s wish to use the #MeTooSTEM hashtag exclusively.
So here’s a proposal. How about we as a community use a new hashtag #MeTooSTEAMM instead? It would be inclusive of both Math and Medicine, as also the Humanities academic and scholarly communities, and would help unify all the voices. This hashtag has not been used in twitter so far (I have checked), so we can decide from the outset that anybody wishing to bring attention to the cause can use this #MeTooSTEAMM hastag in twitter and elsewhere in any event that relates to the cause.
On my side, I will also try and consciously use #MeTooSTEAMM hashtag from now on in our 500 Poppies blogposts, except when I want to specifically address metoostem.com. I think this would avoid confusion in the long run.
And so … here’s the Declaration of Use 😊:

Go here to read all tweets tagged with #MeTooSTEAMM from now on:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/MeTooSTEAMM
Use the tag liberally. The more the merrier.
Lastly, I wish the cancelled panel could be re-organized to be held some other day, and we would love to hear more about the discussions openly.
