The #MeToo movement explained

by Ben (Discover English Teacher)

Warning: this post refers to sexual assault

The #MeToo movement is an online social movement. Many women publicly accused famous or powerful men of sexual assault or harassment using #MeToo on social media. The movement started in October 2017 when the American actress Alyssa Milano posted on Twitter, ‘If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote “Me too” as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem’. After that, #MeToo posts went viral with the hashtag used by more than 4.7 million people on Facebook in the first 24 hours. Many other famous actresses responded, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence and Uma Thurman among many others.

Many famous male actors, producers and directors in Hollywood were fired, charged by the police, sued and heavily criticised. The most high-profile man to be punished was Harvey Weinstein, who was the boss of a highly successful production company called Miramax that made many independent American films. He was accused by a number of actresses of rape and sexual assault. In early 2020, he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

The #MeToo movement has spread all around the world, and there have been high-profile accusations in many countries. The movement has helped raise awareness about how much sexual violence there is, how to prevent sexual violence in the future and the fact that women often earn lower salaries than men for doing the same work.

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