What is the #MeToo Movement?
- Parker Coyne
- Sep 28, 2025
- 3 min read
First off, I hate the name for the "#MeToo" Movement, I think it's a stupid name.
TW: Mentions of Sexual Assault, Sexual Abuse
Anyway, the #MeToo Movement is a more modern-day advocacy for aid given to sexual assault survivors. What started as posting on social media about what has happened to (mainly) women (hence the #MeToo, still stupid) became an overall movement popularized mainly in the United States but also globally.
A nonprofit organization, Global Fund for Women, describes the start and founder of "#MeToo" stating, "The ‘me too.’ movement was founded in 2006 by Tarana Burke to support survivors of sexual violence, particularly young women of color from low-wealth communities, to find pathways to healing."
First off, this is an incredibly important movement. This normalizes talking about abuse in ways that is still not normalized. I cannot stress that enough. Not only is talking about abuse important for those who have withstood and survived it, that allows those individuals to find help and pathways to healing--like Global Fund for Women describes.
Talking about it is the very first step. It allows those who have experienced any sort of assault and/or abused to realize what has happened to them and also realize that it was not their fault.
I personally didn't know I had been abused and assaulted until I was drunk at my sister's bachelorette party and said something about my first intimate relationship that concerned my sisters. The next day when we were all sober and had woken up for our sister slumber party, they had me come to the guest room (separate from one sister's husband and the other sister's fiancé) and asked me the important question: had I been raped?
My first answer was no.
It took talking to other women who had been assaulted and abused for me to realize I had been to. I didn't know it could come in different forms. It took multiple therapists to discover this and discover other aspects of my life where I had also been abused by different individuals.
Even then, other assaults that happened to me as a pre-teen and teenager came to light that I didn't even realize were assaults--just that they made me uncomfortable. Talking about it was vital to my understanding of what had happened to me and why I had a fear of men, and also, authority. I don't like being told what to do and that came down to feeling helpless in a moment like that.
Although I hate the title of "#MeToo", it is also important because 1. it connects all of us who have experienced assault and abuse regardless of what type of assault/abuse, gender identity, sexuality, race, creed, culture, etc. 2. it's such a normal saying, "me too", like a response to someone you're agreeing with or have shared ideas or experiences with, and 3. it's easy to say without bringing up specifically what has happened to us.
One of the quotes by the founder, Tarana, I really clung to was: "The ability to live free from violence is a basic human right..." and yet talking about abuse, violence, assaults, and such are not normal to bring up in conversation at almost any point. The reasons to it are valid: it's uncomfortable, it can be triggering, and more.
But it is uncomfortable.
It is triggering.
But it needs to be discussed.
Individuals who have experienced abuse should be able to talk about it and voice that it's happened to them so those who will say, "me too" can feel less alone. Know that they aren't alone. There's an oddly comforting notion to knowing you aren't alone in something horrific you've faced.
I still don't know what the best way would be to bring this up in typical conversation, I can barely write a blog post about it when it's something so prevalent in my very identity. But as I continue talking about mental health awareness, icons that have experienced and survived abuse, and ways to cope may allow me that insight and also make another abused individual also feel less alone.
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