Me Too Movement Essay Example

Harassment is something that is too common for women to experience. Stepping out of the house is sometimes horrifying because of what is endured on a constant basis.  Harassment is a violation of the first article of the UDHR, “All humans are born with dignity and rights”. Dignity, the state or quality of being worthy of respect, is something that victims of harassment are denied; they are degraded and insulted making them feel inferior and scared. During the summer I went to the beach with three of my friends. We were having a good time in the water, minding our own business, when a group of three guys started approaching us. Not knowing what to do in the moment we just stayed in the water as they tried to talk to us. We made it obvious we did not want to be there with them, but they persisted even following us as we slowly tried to back away. One guy was making extremely uncomfortable remarks and jokes while the others just stood back and watched it happen. We smiled and laughed trying to deescalate the situation hoping they would not get closer to us. Then the others joined in to make comments on our bodys. Eventually we finally got the courage to turn around and walk away faster. When we did so, we were met with more extremely rude and degrading comments, we were called “whores” and other choice words that should not be used when talking to anyone, ever. The worst part of this situation was not the feeling of being uncomfortable, or even slightly scared, but the fact that we laughed it off. We went this happens to people all the time, it will happen to us plenty of times in our lives, we could not feel bad because much worse could have happened and happens to other girls everyday. While what I have personally experienced is only morally wrong, there are many cases of repeated and intense harassment that legal action can and should be taken against. Sadly in many cases when legal action can be taken the victims do not report it due to a stigma around harassment. The Me Too movement has helped bring light to the vast effects of harassment and assault. With 81% of women and 43% of men reporting experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their life, and more than 3 out of every 4 women and 1 out of every 3 men have experiencing a form of verbal harassment, accoring to a study from Stop Street Harassment, it is clear that it is a huge problem across the nation and something needs to be done to decrease these rates. Preventing situations like this, and worse situations of harassment, start with what is taught to young boys. Early in our lives girls are taught don’t show too much skin, make sure you know exactly how to get home, don’t drink anything you left unattended, never run in the dark and so much more in order to stay safe, but why are we taught how to protect ourselves and not stopping the event from ever occurring in the first place? Decreased rates of harassment and assault don’t come from better precautions on the victims part, they come from teaching young people about consent and respect. Many schools and sports programs from taking it upon themselves to help educate on consent and instill the value of respect into young adults. By doing this and “locker room talk” that perpetuates the harassment they are playing an invaluable role in decreasing the rates of harassment and assault. Through this movement they have helped decrease the stigma and victim blaming allowing more victims to come forward and take action against their abuser and created many programs to educate the youth and decrease the likelihood of another generation being subjected to harassment.