Author: Afreen
The #MeToo initiative was a movement started to combat sexual harassment and assault. It went viral in the past years as a way for victims of harassment to vent out their frustration and to call out their alleged harassers. It still continues to pick up steam to this day. Its main purpose revolved around the empowerment of vulnerable individuals and to give others a sense of the magnitude of the issue of harassment.
Using social media as a platform to reveal the prevalence of sexual violence in society, it became all the craze with people to gain the right to relate with others, and call out demeaning predatory behaviour.As the initiative met with success, by acknowledgement from even high profile celebrities, the notion that harassment shouldn’t be kept under wraps became a worldwide sensation.
Keeping in mind the publicity one gains from participating in this movement, many have filed false allegations against innocent people, without evidence, leading to a devastating effect on the lives of the accused. Like almost every other social campaign, it has fallen victim to opportunism from individuals.
Because of such disgraceful people, both sexes suffer greatly. Men are now afraid to compliment women in any way, touch them in acceptable situations or afraid to simply be alone with women at all. One bold liar is all it takes to have our lives in shambles. Men aren’t the only victims here. The price women pay for this extra security is skepticism and an arms-length approach by men in dealing with them both professionally and personally.
So, has the #MeToo really changed anything? One can’t definitely say that it has made absolutely no impact on our community. The numbers of men and women healing after confiding in to others and opening up to their therapists have shown an exponential increase after the introduction of #MeToo. The #MeToo movement gives people the courage to speak out, and since most sexual assault goes unreported
As controversial as #MeToo is, its important to remember that movements like these, have positive effects that outweigh the detrimental ones and does, in fact, bring about a large change in the mindsets of people.