What is #MeToo :-

  • ‘Me too’ phrase was first used in 2006 by Tarana Burke, a social activist to raise awareness on sexual assault. She chose this phrase because she regrets not saying ‘me too’, when a 13-year old told her about the sexual abuse she faced.
  • In 2017, #MeToo hashtag became famous when Alyssa Milano encouraged women to share their sexual assalut ordeal, so that everyone will know the pervasiveness of sexual abuse in society.
  • In 2018, #MeToo became trending after a Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta alleged that Nana Patekar sexually harassed her in 2009. And she stated that she had to quit her career due to this incident.
  • Tanushree Dutta inspired many and several women came out and named several sexual abusers among celebrities. This movement strengthened when MJ Akbar was forced to resigned for the post of Minister of State for External Affairs, when 16 women alleged that he has sexually harassed them.
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Changes brought by #MeToo revolution :-

  • In many cultures, women are discouraged from speaking up against sexual harassment. In India, the situation is even worse. The victim will be labelled as a sexual harassment victim throughout her life. She has to face victim shaming too. #MeToo movement improved this situation. Now, women are encouraged to speak up.
  • Many women who are facing sexual abuse now know that they are not the only victims. Often victims are manipulated to such an extent that it is their fault to go through sexual abuse. And they are made to believe that it is better to be silent than to speak up and being labelled. Hearing these personal stories gives them strength to come out and to complain against the sexual abuser. Many people now know that being a victim of sexual abuse is not something to be ashamed of.
  • Those who have power now think twice to use their power in a wrong way.
  • Though very few, men are also sharing their sexual abuse experiences. ‘Adhyayan Suman vs Kangana Ranaut‘ case is an example of this. It is very important to spread awareness in society that men can also be victims of abuse.
  • Many victims were silenced before as their abusers have power. Now, they are listened and understood. This is a bug step towards their healing considering the intense mental trauma sexual assault survivors go through. This can be evident in ‘Vinta Nanda vs AlokNath’ case. She wasn’t believed when she told her story 19 years back.
  • In many cases, though victims followed legal procedure and filed a complaint, these incidents were not revealed to public and hence abusers continued living their life normally despite committing the crime. Whereas victims were further harassed to withdraw the complaint. Now with the power of social media, almost everyone is not willing to work with proven sexual offenders.
  • ‘National Commission for Women’ (NCW) dedicated a separate email id – [email protected]. Sexual abuse victims can send a formal written complaints to this email id.
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Negative side :-

  • Using #MeToo movement, some people are making false allegations and maligning the reputation of innocent people to take revenge or for other selfish motives. There are limitations to freedom of speech. People cannot just make baseless allegations on anyone. Some were not even proceeding legally, they are just telling in social media and are staying silent. People who accuse someone have onus on them to take part in trial if the opposite person do not accept their side of the story. Without it, every man is at threat of being framed as a sexual abuser.
  • Some people are anonymously sharing their stories and naming the offenders. This may turn into a dangerous phenomenon anyone can malign someone else’s reputation without even revealing their identity.
  • Recently POSCO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) act included boys too. But In India, there are no laws for male sexual abuse victims if they are adults. This is very discriminatory towards one gender.
  • These cases will undergo trail in courts for years. The overburdened Indian courts may not be able to do justice to the victims legally. On top of that, there may not be any proofs in these type of crimes.
  • As of now, only celebrities are utilising the MeToo movement. Common people are still silent and are scared of victim shaming.
  • Still some people are blaming the victim, and questioning their choices of work, clothes etc. Some are assassinating the character of victim.
  • After Nirbhaya incident, nothing has changed. #MeToo may also become like that.
  • Several movie personalities are following double standards. On one side they are supporting Me Too movement, and on another side they do item songs which depict women as an object of sexual desire.
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What needs to be done :-

  • Proven sexual offenders should be punished as soon as possible to send a positive message in society.
  • Several Me Too stories are about child sexual abuse. Many didn’t even realize what was happening at the time of incident as they were minors then. So many children across the world are facing sexual abuse. This was once again reminded the importance of giving awareness to children on sexual assaults. Parents should teach their children to openly communicate with them.
  • The underlying cause of violence on women is that men and women are taught from a very young age that the men are the stronger one and should be so. This puts immense pressure on young boys to be dominant and follows the wrong theory of masculinity. Many young boys think women are of less value. In many families of India, male member will be the head of the family. This also teaches them that they have this entitlement. It is very important teach the issue of gender equality to young children.
  • There should be punishment for those who make false allegations. But it will be very difficult because proving it as a false allegation is also tough.

Conclusion :-

#MeToo movement brought a positive change in society. It is very tough for women to speak about the sexual abuse they gone through. Most of the victims suffer the mental trauma throughout their lives. This encourages the offenders to commit crimes repeatedly. Me Too has changed this situation for the better. It encouraged victims to speak up and to heal in the process. It also made sexual offenders regret their actions, because now victims are speaking up. Though some people are misusing the movement, this can be solved with a proper legal procedure.

The main success of Me Too movement is that it taught many people that it’s not their fault to be a sexual abuse victim. This movement started shaming offenders instead of victims. Many people now do not want to be associated with the proven sexual offenders. It is a big step towards reducing violence against women. Behavioural change is needed to further reduce these kind of crimes.

Your Turn…

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16 Comments

  • LOKESH B, Mar 27, 2020 @ 12:29 pm Reply

    Yes I’m agree with #ME TOO is good, but some people misused this phrase. Because of revenge or something else doing maligning to others reduse their reputation in the society by using social media. And also giving false statements to some body person this was not good , this was recently done in our state Film industry. Many of them express their stories in this story many of are victim in child only becare about children . Thanks

  • Ley, Jun 12, 2019 @ 2:53 pm Reply

    # Me too gave me courage. Am speaking out!

  • Saurabh Kumar, Mar 28, 2019 @ 9:34 pm Reply

    As much as I agree that #MeToo Movement is good for the society, I doubt that the effect was long lasting with its radius spread mainly to celebrities. I would have considered #MeToo movement a success if it provided opportunity to the masses to speak out. There are lot of daughters, sisters, mothers who are sexually harassed by members of family and relatives and they choose to keep quite because of the fear from the defamation and what society will think.
    There are lot of sex workers who face harassment but no one talks about them. This blame game without any proof can lead to serious implication of one’s image in society. So as good as it sounds, it definitely gives CREAMED LAYER WOMEN to share their stories because they have access to media, but common masses still suffer which was the objective of this movement to empower the women to form a community against these sexual assaults by accused. A more fundamental campaign is needed which would somehow bring out the common men and women to speak up. According to me, MeToo movement compasses celebrities.

  • pooja khyalia, Feb 28, 2019 @ 8:32 am Reply

    this topic is both important and worrisome because many people are targeted without any base so those people who are involved in false allegations must stop alleging those because …because of them truth seeking people or women specially , their voice becomes weak ……………………..but we can see there is not much done to those who were charged of ,,,,,,,so proper investigation of the charged person must be done by Film and censor board

  • ADITYA, Jan 27, 2019 @ 3:20 pm Reply

    hi everyone,
    This blog is useful for many people who are facing such kind of problems in their daily routine, but most of the people in our coutry really don’t know what #METOO stand for.so, that may be we have to create some awareness mainly in rural and urban areas by making campaigns or by keeping posters atleast. I think may be this will gonna work for many people who want to come out from such cases.

  • Pratik Gawali, Jan 22, 2019 @ 11:03 am Reply

    Yes, obviously #ME TOO is the good action taken which helps victims to talk their point of view. But I would like to mention that the victim can not only be women it can even be men. I agree there are more cases of victims to be women but it doesn’t mean it will not be men. The main point I want to put forward is #ME TOO movement give victims the courage and tell them there is nothing to be ashamed of this as everyone has right to put his/her point.

  • Maurya Pawnesh, Jan 21, 2019 @ 4:39 pm Reply

    Hello everyone ,
    All of us know that every coins have two sides which are pros and cons but MEE TOO is effective not only for this time but also for future and it will take a positive change in our society for the women .because the women who are working in any organisation ,institution like film industry ,media houses , teaching profession and corporate world also ,they are harassing day by day at every moment which is cause of mental trauma and not good for our society . I think it should be stopped and those who are involved in these types of activities even may be male or female should be punished . But none have right to allege anyone without involving in it .

  • SUBODH YADAV, Jan 19, 2019 @ 10:59 pm Reply

    No doubt me too is a good step it help many actresses to talk openly what they face but not worked for those girls who belongs to rural areas and after this movement nothing changes in rules and laws so after some time people forget and full enquiry about otherwise false allegations damage your reputation and these allegations by that actresses who playing bold scenes in movies and in item songs.

  • Shubham Thombal, Jan 19, 2019 @ 8:40 pm Reply

    I think this campaign made a custom in our society that will be deter to abusers.Because we are belongs from a society where they are pondering men is always right.This campaign is provided courage to womens to speak up instead of keep quieting.

  • Neha, Jan 7, 2019 @ 10:06 am Reply

    No doubt , Me too is a good step it help many of renowned actresses to talk openly what they face , which they hide inside their own for long , but Mee too not worked for the girls who belong to small towns , villages , not only villages even for those also who belong to middle class families, they still afraid to come out openly in the fear of what the society will say, and all this nonsense stuff . So as per me MEE TOO kind of activities should be happened time to time so that no one feel shamed to tell what happened with her , with that we should encourage the girls , should tell them how important is it to give punishment to those who did this ridiculous crime . I think this really help a lot to reduce such crimes in our country.

  • anuj yadav, Dec 27, 2018 @ 9:19 pm Reply

    in my view metoo campaign is right because some girl could not raise their voice due to many reasons. And with this campaign they are gaining strength and are standing for their rights

  • UJWALA PANDE, Dec 8, 2018 @ 12:04 pm Reply

    #Me Too movement has given courage to a lot of female as well as male victims. Its a good thing that people are not shaming the victims but the offenders. This will send a good message to our future generation.Its a good step towards changing the mindset of certain people on sexual harassment.

  • Shivam dwivedi, Nov 17, 2018 @ 4:07 pm Reply

    Hello friends ,
    in my opinion #ME TOO champion is good for women and girls.with the help of this champion they can raise her voice to against the victims.
    By this CHAMPION people thinks many time before do the crime its dosent matters victims are powerful or not.

  • palak jain, Nov 16, 2018 @ 11:02 am Reply

    In my opinion ,#me too is good action ,women will come up ,they don’t have to shy their face or escape from anyone , i am proud to be a women and by this #me too women can stand o their feet and take a stand on their own .this calls for a celebration.

  • Tinku paul, Nov 14, 2018 @ 7:11 am Reply

    According to me #MeToo is good , woman can open their mouth they will not feel shaky . When celebrity they can express their ordeal then common woman can express themselves. Usually we see victimise woman suffers and accused person roaming freely. We know M J Akbar forced to resign from the post. At least powerful people will think twice when they will misuse their power. They think they have power they can enjoy their power.Sometimes woman has to tolerate because they have no choice for work purpose etc. Powerful people should not take the advantage , when bad work comes into light their image will go down they had to resign. They have desire as they have power nobody can understand their bad activity and victimise woman will not be courage to express their ordeal.So powerful people will enjoy but #MeToo is good.

    • Team GD Ideas, Nov 14, 2018 @ 7:23 am Reply

      That’s right Tinku! Me Too movement gave courage to victims.

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