“Me Too” campaign encourages survivors to speak out against sexual misconduct, connect with others
10 years ago, Tarana Burke, creator of the “Me Too” campaign, was a youth camp director who sat down to hear the story of a child who had been sexually abused. Burke ended the conversation less than five minutes in and sent the child to speak with another director because she could no longer listen to the monstrous things that this child was enduring.
“I watched her walk away from me as she tried to recapture her secrets and tuck them back into their hiding place,” said Burke in an interview with CNN. “I watched her put her mask back on and go back into the world like she was all alone, and I couldn’t even bring myself to whisper, ‘me too.’”
After 10 years, the “Me Too” campaign has finally been revitalized, awakening survivors as they join to share their stories. The first tweet surfaced on Oct. 15 after Alyssa Milano posted it as a response to Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual assault scandals. As of Oct. 28, nearly 60 women have come out claiming that Weinstein sexually assaulted and harassed them.
The “Me Too” campaign has become popular and continues to grow day by day, inspiring people to speak out. It is a stance that I believe Guilford students and staff should take, especially with the incidents that continue to go unannounced all around the world.
Guilford has made it clear that they do not accept any form of sexual assault or harassment and promotes consent as a must. Though this campaign was centered around the Weinstein accusations, that is not its only focus. Sexual assault has been an epidemic in our world, and I am proud and honored that people have the strength to endure and share their stories despite the pain they hold. You are not alone. Thousands upon thousands of people stand behind you ready to embrace you wholeheartedly.
“I think the one responsibility we have as survivors, once we get to a place where we can, is to create an entry point of healing for other survivors,” said Burke during her interview with CNN. “For years I couldn’t figure out what that would be for me, and then ‘Me Too’ became a thing.”
Burke continued saying that the “Me Too” campaign has given her the strength and platform to let her voice be heard and is proud that it is doing the same for so many others.
One major obstacle for people who have been sexually assaulted is the moment when they must speak out, but that should not stop them. Let us be the generation that puts an end to sexual assault and harassment for good. In less than 24 hours, 4.7 million people around the world have engaged in the “Me Too” conversation, with more than 12 million posts, comments and reactions. According to Facebook, more than 45 percent of people in the United States are friends with someone who has posted a message with the words “Me Too.” We are connected more than we think, and as long as we stand together, we can take on those who try to tear us down. I ask members of the Guilford community to stand up and join in. If you are scared to do so, then allow me to be the first.
Me Too.
Regina Dennis • Dec 6, 2017 at 9:09 am
I was a graduate student in Binghamton, NY when man sexually assaulted me. This was 1980 and I had just returned from serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa. The maintenance man asked to check a gas leak in my studio. I opened the door and he went in to the kitchen area, came out and said that he came to rape me and if I screamed he would kill me. He did not rape me, but the fighting, putting his finger in my vagina, exposing his penis was horrifying. I eventually called the school’s rape crisis center. I went through the police insults, medical exams and a lengthy trial. The assaulter was white and I am black. I was only the only black in the court besides a friend who went with me. An all white judge, white jurors reviewed the evidence and I won the case! My case was the first in the state of New York to contest the 1976 law that a third party witness is not required in sexual assault cases. The case was reported in local news papers. While this happened years ago, this experience has haunted me all of my life.
Anonymous • Nov 8, 2017 at 7:46 pm
I am not even sure if this is the correct site: but I am thinking that maybe writing this down, it will make me feel a bit better. Already my heart is pounding.
I am 73 years of age: at 19 years of age – 54 long years ago – I was pack-raped by 5 men. If I didn’t “consent” my face was going to be carved up with the top of an opened can which was being waved in front and lightly run down my cheek
It is amazing what can go through your mind in a nano-second. I “reasoned” that the scars on my face would last forever, and that I would be able to put the rape behind me. Little did I know that 54 years later, I still live with the disgusting fact of the rape, of the infection I received because of it, of the humiliation of being sent to a hospital where they washed me out and, yes, found 5 different types of sperm and the ultimate humiliation of being interrogated by a female police officer who told me I asked for it. Why? Because I had gone with a very well dressed man to his flat who approached me when he recognised me as being an acquaintance of one of his friends. This was true, because he knew my friend’s name. This was back in the day when if you met a nice young man at a dance (I did a lot of ballroom dancing) you would allow them to take you home.
I lived with the “filth” that I felt: I could not get myself clean no matter how long I stood under the shower, or bathed.
In the end, I told my father. I was able to tell him where the flat was. Unbeknown to me, my father who was a very fit man (boxing was one of his sports), got some friends together, watched the flat, then “interrupted” the rape of another young girl. The only thing my father said to me is that they would think twice about doing anything like this in the future. I can only guess at what my father and his friends did.
Sometime, with all the stories now about sexual abuse, I think of those men and wonder how they would react if they had a daughter that was raped. At times I wish this to be the case, but then I pull myself up. I should not wish anything like I went through on another human being – male or female.
These 5 men worked together as a pack. How long it had been going on for, I do not know. The fact that I could have “found” these men because of my friend and his so-called mates, was squashed when I was told I was to blame by the police.
So, has writing this down made me feel any better. No, it has only brought back the memory of that fateful night that changed my life forever.
I marvel at the young people who speak up now about their shocking experiences. Of course sexual liberation is so much further down the track to when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s.
Shania Lao • Nov 15, 2017 at 12:56 am
Reading your response has wholeheartedly touched me and I thank you for having the strength to share your story here, I know how hard that must have been for you. I can’t even begin to imagine what you had gone through 54 years ago and what you continue to go through now because of that day. Carrying that on your shoulders for so long is not an easy thing to do, and I am so sorry that it has become such a burden in your life. What I hope you remember is that you are not to blame. What those police officers told you or how they made you feel was wrong, because it is not your fault and you did not deserve it. Don’t let those men win in taking a part of you because you are not a piece of property, you are human. You are flawed just like the rest of us and that is okay because being perfect is so overrated my dear.
Remember that you have the right to be happy, there is a quote that I would love to recite to you by Joshua Graham that states, “I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me.” Carry that with you and remember that they tried to burn you down and they failed, they failed because you were brighter than they could have ever imagined.
I am not asking you to let what they did go or force yourself to forget it because I know that this is not a chapter in a book that you can just rip out. It is sewed into your spine and it is a part of you which can be difficult to accept, I know it was for me. I hope you know that you have saved lives and changed them because of your strength to speak up, not just when telling your father who was able to stop him from raping another girl but also here as others who come to this page will read your story and hopefully have the strength to speak up as well. You are an inspiration to me and I am grateful and honored to have gotten the chance to hear your story. I hope for a response and would love to speak with you whether that be an email or a reply on here. Please if you feel comfortable in doing so contact me so that we may have an opportunity to speak more. Again, I want to thank you for sharing your story with me and remember that we are all made imperfectly perfect.