Stereotypes are common in the world today. One of the most popular stereotypes people tend to buy into is that men have more power than women. Men are supposed to be superior and above the opposite gender and a lot of men to this day still believe that. Women have always had to be more cautious, whether it is considering their surroundings, the kind of clothing they’re going to wear, their curfew, etc. There is a reason behind this though. In the United States, more than 600,000 women and girls of all ages get sexually assaulted each year. Sometimes women don’t feel like they can share their trauma without feeling some type of shame. Instead of being ashamed, these same women should be able to feel like they overcame it.

In 2017 a woman named Tarana Burke, a survivor and activist, started a social media movement on Twitter titled the “#Me Too” movement for women who were sexually abused to come out and share their story so others around the world would know they are not alone. It was created to represent empowerment, so women can say, “Hey, this happened to me but it is not who I am.” On the Me Too website (www.metoomvmt.org) Burke goes on to say, “In 2017, the #metoo hashtag went viral and woke up the world to the magnitude of the problem of sexual violence… Within a six month span, our message reached a global community of survivors… Our work continues to focus on assisting a growing spectrum of survivors - young people, queer, trans, the disabled, Black women and girls, and all communities of color.”

The hashtag became so powerful that the men who harassed these women were put in jail. In the article “Harvey Weinstein found guilty in landmark #MeToo movement” Associated Press journalists Michael R. Sisak and Tom Hays report that “Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday February 24th, 2019 of rape and sexual assault against two women and was led off to prison in handcuffs, sealing his dizzying fail from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement.” This shows that the hashtag is successful because a man who sexually abused at least two females is now behind bars as he should be. Slowly but surely these women are getting closure and can feel confident about the good they are doing for not only themselves but for the rest of the world as well.

Women’s empowerment is very important and sometimes people are unaware of this. It is important to make sure not only women feel this kind of support, but everybody should be able to live freely and feel safe. Movements like #MeToo are successful because of the kind of platform they are created on. Social media is very big and a large amount of people spend at least part of their everyday lives on it. Therefore more movements should be created so that people can feel like they have a safe space to share their thoughts and concerns online or even in person in communities. As a society, we need to make a change in the world. We need to lift people up. We need to encourage them to feel stronger and empowered. Movements that stem from a simple Twitter hashtag are a step in the right direction.