The “#MeTo0” movement has raised awareness on college campuses and women are speaking up. Students and faculty members at Ramapo College joined the social movement by incorporating the topic into class discussion.
While professors are educating students of how to stand up for and prevent sexual harassment others are voicing their opinions on the matter. During class discussions students have felt that the school does not address it as often as they should, with many believing it is only talked about during their first year orientation. Some students are still unaware of the resources the school offers for help reporting incidents.
From the #MeToo campaign to the allegations of wrongdoings against powerful figures in politics and the industry, women have become empowered to face and call out their predators.
Many experts and women this year say that it has become a tipping point in a social and sexual war that has raged for centuries and is creating a new type of feminism.
“It has a snowball effect empowering women and I believe that anyone who can be called out and disciplined for sexual harassment should be!” said sociology professor Erin Augis of Ramapo College of New Jersey.
Sexual harassment has become a part of daily conversation that is unlikely to fade into the background. Over the last year brave women have chosen to speak up, publicly sharing their experiences with sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Notable public figures such as Republican Roy Moore, news anchor Matt Lauer and Team USA gymnast doctor Larry Nassar have all been entangled in the allegations. Between the three men, only two have faced serious repercussions at the hands of their actions.
Roy Moore who had been accused by at least eight women have only denied the two accusations of Leigh Corfman and Beverly Young Nelson whom were both minors at the time of the assault. Although the swirls of allegations hit headlines amongst re-elections he was still able to run as a politician. Matt Lauer and Larry Nassar both lost their jobs as a result.
Nassar now faces a minimum of a 40-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexual abuse against women who served on the gymnastics team as well as athletes attending Michigan State University over the last two decades. Amongst the 156 women who had accused him were famous medalists McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglass and Simone Biles.
“People in the workplace are taken down by human resources,” said Deirdre Foreman, equal 0pportunity associate director at Ramapo College of New Jersey. “If you’re not in a structured situation they’re going to get away with it.”
With reactions such as this it has become clear that this will be more than the next social trend. The ‘MeToo’ campaign originally started on Oct. 15, 2017 when actress Alyssa Milano took to social media tweeting: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘MeToo’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem’ to voice her opinions on the injustices.
Celebrities and everyday women began responding to the task, sharing their stories on all social media sites possible. By Oct. 16, the hashtag had been tweeted more than 500,000 times and spread all over the world to countries such as China and the UK.
The sexual assault stories triggered so many emotions that even men began to lend their sympathy to these women. Actors such as Terry Crews and James Van der Beek responded sharing their own experiences as well.
Men are heeding the works and have created the hashtag “HowIWillChange’ and ‘HimThough’. With everyone speaking up Alyssa Milano may have reached her goal in getting the world to see the crisis that is usually ignored and shunned.
“I haven’t seen many males react in negative ways. But for some it is hard to express their feelings for fear they may be judged by other men because the way society stereotypes masculinity.” said Royal Thomas II a junior at Ramapo College of New Jersey.
[Audio:Listen to Zashawn Small a freshman at Ramapo give a male perspective on the issue]
“Tell their stories, cause you know I can’t really relate to them. But I know that this is probably the hardest thing they probably can do. And if this is a way for them to express themselves I say why not. I-I agree with it. “
I enjoyed this article, and learned some useful information while I was reading. For example, I did not realize how many sexual assault allegations against Roy Moore there are. Similarly, I did not know the extent of allegations against other notable figures such as Larry Nassar. This article did a good job at framing these experiences, and provided additional links if readers wanted to learn more about the stories. I would have liked to read more about Terry Crews’ experience with sexual assault, but the story is included as a hyperlink so that desire is resolved.