Over the past few days the #MeToo movement has exploded and taken over social media, causing extreme controversy. Many people hold strong stances on the issue of women, and men, facing any form of sexual harassment or abuse. But what they often don’t understand is the extent to which it happens.

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It all started with millions of Facebook users updating their status as “Me too. If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” I have watched as many people comment things along the lines of, if every woman were to say “me too” that it would be lessening the impact of rape and sexual misconduct.

 

However, the problem lays in these people not being informed enough on this issue. Most women do, in fact, struggle with issues of sexual harassment on a daily basis even if they don’t realize it. Men make sexist jokes like it’s their job, work places often still discriminate women in small ways, and cat calls have become the norm. However, people sharing their stories in no way lessens the impact of assault. You may be annoyed with seeing a hashtag spread all over the internet if you aren’t directly related, but think about how these victims actually feel.

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The problem is that when women feel these discriminatory remarks or acts affecting their lives, they are too afraid to speak up for themselves. Even worse, women who face sexual assault become afraid that others won’t believe them, or even struggle to believe their experience for themselves, questioning if it’s actually assault. Let me assure you, if you have to second guess yourself, chances are you’re right in thinking that it is assault.

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While people can freely exercise their freedom of speech, I believe that they have no business telling somebody that they are wrong for opening up about their personal experience with the issue. It is because of people like this that women are afraid to express what they are going through and keep it bottled up.

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In an article by Veronica Ruckh on Total Sorority Move, she opens up about her own experiences with not one, but four, accounts of sexual assault in her life. While her struggles finally come to the surface, she admits to feeling like this all happened on her account and blamed herself for her experiences, while also questioning if the men in the situations meant what they were doing. So many women experience situations similar to Ruckh’s and face the same hardships as her, thinking that it’s okay because they’re in a relationship with someone who takes advantage of them or because they may have had too much to drink.

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But these women who tell themselves over and over again that it’s normal let their experiences haunt them for days, weeks, even years. They just never bring it up to anyone because maybe they were in a vulnerable place emotionally and keep the blame internally on themselves, or maybe they fear that opening up about their problems will only cause more harm than good. We shouldn’t have to think that just because our experiences are not as bad as others that we can’t speak out about them.

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Just because I feel this way does not mean that I consider myself a feminist or an advocate of women’s rights. I consider myself a realist and feel that it is time to realize that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. It’s time that we realize that most women have or will be exposed to some form of sexual harassment in their lives. It’s time to make talking about these issues a priority. It’s time to show women that they are accepted and that they have every right to seek help when help is needed.