Women Are Using #MeToo To Highlight The Extent Of The Sexual Harassment Problem

The hashtag #metoo has been trending on Twitter this week. Why? In a show of solidarity, tens of thousands of women (and men) have been tweeting to reveal that they, too, have been victims of sexual harassment or assault.

Since many celebs, including Cara Delevingne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Rose McGowan, have been coming forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault by big-time Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, the topic has been a big one on Twitter.

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This week, #MeToo proved that sexual assault and harassment is not unique to Hollywood - it's actually an epidemic. The trend kicked off when American actress Alyssa Milano tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/919659438700670976

When Rose McGowan (Alyssa’s fellow cast member in the series Charmed) was recently banned from Twitter for abusing its code of conduct allegedly in the way she accused Ben Affleck of knowing about the Weinstein scandal, people were calling all women to boycott Twitter for failing to support victims of sexual assault. But there were mixed reactions, as some people thought women boycotting Twitter would just silence female voices even more on the subject.

https://twitter.com/natvanlis/status/918873829572775938

This new hashtag seems to make a lot of sense though, and with more than 30,000 women (and some men) using the hashtag to add their voice to the masses, it really does show that sexual assault and harassment is still a widespread problem.

https://twitter.com/NotALostGirl00/status/919943464695029762

https://twitter.com/adovadotchka/status/919939416541614083

https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/status/919935935973793799

https://twitter.com/MWAChicago/status/919940173630246912

Some celebs have been using the hashtag too, with Skins actress Kaya Scodelario coming forward after years of silence to reveal that she's experienced the same thing:

https://twitter.com/kScodders/status/919908941114564610

https://twitter.com/lilireinhart/status/919812853992865793

https://twitter.com/thekatiestevens/status/919932960987631617

It’s great that so many women are finally speaking up in relation to the sexual harassment and assault by Harvey Weinstein that went on for decades but, as this Twitter trend shows, Weinstein really does seem to be just the tip of the iceberg.

https://twitter.com/laura_winters11/status/919920388540379136

We love that this hashtag means sticking up for every woman who's been sexually harassed or assaulted, and that Twitter is being used as a platform to place the blame on the perpetrators, NOT the victims.