The midterm election and the #MeToo movement
What’s the problem?
Critics describe the #MeToo movement as a witch hunt, but to others the support from it is the thought of water while facing fire.
The spark of the movement came when sexual assault allegations started piling up against Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein in 2017. Other accusations against other high-profiled men followed.
Before the movement, many women were hesitant to come forward with their claims of harassment. Many still are, but the movement has also shown victims that they aren’t alone.
Criticisms of the movement:
Amid pressure from the movement, men from all backgrounds– politics, media, entertainment, business and more– are stepping down from their jobs. Critics of the #MeToo movement are asking for due process, and some fear that men will have to tiptoe around women to avoid accusations.
Supporters of the movement:
Reasons why victims haven’t come forward have ranged from being afraid of repercussions directed at them to having felt that what happened to them wasn’t sexual assault or harassment.
According to RAINN, an American adult is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds. Every six minutes, that victim is a child.
To supporters, the #MeToo movement is about eradicating sexism in the workplace and creating solidarity for the victims.
Things to remember:
Sexual assault refers to any form of sexual activity that is done without the consent of all individuals involved.
Sexual harassment involves comments or harassment based on a person’s sex, including unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, etc.
Sexual violence can include contact and non-contact incidents from groping to sending unwanted sexual images. This also includes attempted rape.
Sexual assault does not always involve a male perpetrator and a female victim. Terry Crews has brought the media’s attention to male victims following his alleged assault.
A study by Stop Street Harassment found that in their survey, 80 percent of the women and nearly half of the men had experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault.
Statistics also show that members of the LGBTQ community face a high rate of sexual assault and harassment.
In The National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey: 2010, found that bisexual women “had significantly higher lifetime prevalence of rape and sexual violence other than rape by any perpetrator when compared to both lesbian and heterosexual women (46.1 percent).” Another finding was that that was also true in regards to the the perpetrator being an intimate partner (61.1 percent).
The National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that nearly half of transgender people have experienced sexual assault at some point in their lifetime.
