BY: Tommi Jo Miller
One year ago this month, #MeToo took the internet, and the country, by storm. In an effort to raise awareness about a devastatingly prevalent issue, actress Alyssa Milano prompted her Twitter followers to share their own sexual assault stories using the hashtag. According to studies by the Pew Research Center, the hashtag is used almost 60,000 times every day, totaling to nearly 20 million #MeToo tweets since the hashtag originated last year.
While the inception of the movement was a year ago, its effects are still being felt. In the past year, many prominent men have fallen due to sexual assault accusations coming to light.Film producer Harvey Weinstein, CBS CEO Les Moonves, comedian Louis CK, news anchor Matt Lauer, actor Kevin Spacey, and other have been stripped from their powerful positions—voluntarily or otherwise—after being accused of sexual misconduct. Comedian Bill Cosby was even sent to prison after being convicted of his crimes.
Pew Research Center also found that the uses of the hashtag are related to these important events in the movement. However, the most #MeToo tweets were seen when sexual assault accusations led to CBS’s Les Moonves early retirement on September 9. Uses of #MeToo also increased when Time magazine chose activists of the movement as their “persons” of the year. There were also trends in the hashtag when Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testified on the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.
To join the movement or for more information, visit metoomvmt.org.