The power behind #MeToo

HARASSMENT: BUT IS AFRICA PART OF THIS GLOBAL MOVEMENT AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE?

Men have problems showing solidarity with women speaking out against rape.

Nearly one-and-a-half years ago, when Alyssa Milano asked women to click #MeToo on their social media platforms, the #MeToo movement was born. Since then, millions of women have indicated through social media that they, too, have been victims of assault or sexual harassment.

The power of this movement has been its ability to show the world how pervasive sexual harassment is. And it’s had an effect on perpetrators. In the film industry, producers and actors such as Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Bill Cosby all lost their jobs.

But is Africa part of this global movement against sexual violence? In her assessment of transnational activism in Africa, author Titilope Adayi indicates that the global dimension of #MeToo has centred on the involvement of certain countries such as the US, the UK, France, India and China. There’s been virtually no mention of Africa or the Middle East.

But the visibility of #MeToo makes it easy to overlook the very powerful campaigns against sexual violence that go on in Africa. Most are happening outside the digital space.

#MeToo was actually started by an African-American women, Tarana Burke in 2006 – 11 years before #MeToo – to help young women deal with sexual harassment. Her campaign wasn’t on social media and didn’t become global. But it has now been tagged on to the digital campaign.

Before #MeToo, there was the #EndRapeCulture campaign which was started in South Africa in 2016 by African women students. The latter campaign was powerful enough to force SA universities to appoint task teams to deal with the pervasive normalisation of sexual violence on campuses. But it didn’t become a global movement, even though it combined