#MeToo adds a new dimension to the Women’s March
Teens have an opportunity to watch a movement grow
Ayear after the 2017 Women’s March that protested Trump’s inauguration, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets again, wearing pink “pussy” hats and carrying colorful signs with feminist slogans. All over the world, from Los Angeles to Rome, from Uganda to right here in Santa Fe, women — and many supportive men — gathered to stand up for equality and respect for all.
This year, there was a new layer added to the protests. The #MeToo movement, which was pioneered in 2006 by civil-rights activist Tarana Burke, suddenly and drastically gained momentum after actress and activist Alyssa Milano encouraged women, in order to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem,” to tweet the hashtag if they had ever experienced sexual abuse or harassment. The movement quickly became a viral phenomenon, especially within Hollywood, with people such as Jennifer Lawrence, Viola Davis, Reese Witherspoon and Lady Gaga sharing stories. Milano’s tweet came in the midst of the scandalous harassment allegations against film producer and mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The #MeToo movement has shed a harsh light on how very patriarchal our society still is and how harmful that power imbalance can be. For teens who are growing up in a world defined by myriad issues, including climate change, strict immigration laws, a skewed political system and inequality in seemingly every sector, watching something like the #MeToo movement catch fire and grow can be illuminating.
“Being a teenage girl, and having experienced catcalls and uncomfortable situations myself, this movement is very important to me,” said Mariana Hernandez, a junior at the Academy for Technology and the Classics. “Many women don’t realize how our lives are plagued with misogyny from super-young ages because we’ve become desensitized to it.”
At age 12, Hernandez recalled, “I had to start watching the length of my skirt so that creepy old men didn’t stare me down and make me uncomfortable.”
“Even physically, we’ve been taught to take up little space,” said Deirdre Logue, a Santa Fe-based teacher with two daughters. “We’re socialized to be quiet caretakers and nurturers, which are wonderful qualities that women have, but I want my girls to feel that they have a voice, too, and that they’re allowed to take up space.”
Logue hopes that the uncomfortable, but important, modes of conversation that the #MeToo movement has made necessary will continue.
“All women have experienced moments of being objectified, even if it wasn’t direct assault, and at the time when I was growing up, that was just to be expected,” she said. “We had to accept it, and I really hope that my girls are growing up into a time when that’s not the case.”
Logue finds the number of women coming out with their own stories incredibly empowering. She hopes that their fearless sharing can serve as an example for her daughters. “I just want them to be able to own their voice and speak their truth,” she said.
And when women are able to stand together and “speak their truth,” they have enormous power.
“Every time we, as women, take a stand on the injustices being done to us or our sisters, it shows how powerful we truly are,” Hernandez said. “It’s important to me to know that there’s other women out there being vocal about the reality of what is happening right here, right now.”
Still, one question that must be asked is: How do we judge how many of these revelations are reality? Recently, several media outlets, including The New York Times and
NBC News, have published pieces wondering whether the movement might not be going too far and asking to what extent the new “guilty until proven innocent” mantra will go before self-imploding.
Hernandez is all for it. “We need to end victim-shaming and blaming,” she said.
But Logue feels that although even the slightest claims should be investigated, “We need to be cautious with what we assume.”
Both of these differing sentiments are widespread among #MeToo supporters, but perhaps it’s OK to disagree. At least, according to Kate Harding’s article on NBC News, it’s opening up the conversation: “However uncomfortable it may be to see feminists publicly snipe at each other like frustrated mothers and daughters, these conflicts are so much better than not talking about it at all.”
Because one thing that the #MeToo movement is doing really well is changing the conversation, which, Rami Jaggers, a sophomore at the Mandela International Magnet School, believes has to happen. He said he thinks there has been a culture of men treating women disrespectfully that has been been accepted or ignored. “There’s a dynamic that lets it be OK, and that’s what needs to change,” he said.
“Women and men should treat each other with respect, just the way you treat a human being.”
Hernandez agrees. “All we want is to be treated like human beings and have our bodies, boundaries and worth respected the same way men’s are,” she said.
And slowly, as the marches continue and Time magazine names “The Silence Breakers” as 2017’s Person of the Year, as the Golden Globe awards are presented to the “Ladies and remaining gentlemen,” and the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. plays on repeat on public radio, women can hope that respect becomes the norm.
“I’m so very proud of all the women speaking up, and also proud of the women carrying their stories with them silently,” said Hernandez. “I see women coming together for each other and it makes me incredibly hopeful for the future that is to come.”