Introduction To Sociology Essay For MeToo Movement.

Write about the Introduction to Sociology For Metoo Movement.

Origins of MeToo Movement

Metoo movement aimed to address the injustices like sexual assaults and harassments in the workplace. This movement resulted after the allegations against Harvey Weinstein gained momentum. As a response, American social activist, Tarana Burke used the phrase ‘Metoo” in 2006. American actress Alyassa Milano popularized the phrase through her opinions about the phrase on Twitter in 2017 (Metoomvmt.org, 2018). Milano urged the victims to raise their voice on the social media. Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence and Uma Thurman produced their responses towards the pleadings from the victims. This essay delves deeper into Metoo movement.  The thesis statement, therefore, is to excavate the contribution of MeToo in uprooting malice like sexual assaults and harassment from the society.

The origins of the Metoo movement can be traced at the time when social media was flooding with campaigns like #MyHarveyWeinstein, #YouOksis among others. Through the use of Myspace, Tarana Burke coined the phrase Metoo. This was a part of the campaign towards empowering the women, who have been a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace. Here, the focus was on the women of the underprivileged and the marginalized communities (Telegraph.co.uk, 2018). Failure to console a girl, being a victim of sexual harassment, Tarana Burke produced a documentary, which was also named as Me Too.

According to the reports, the survey was conducted after the allegations against Harvey Weinstein towards the sexually harassing the female actors (Hbr.org, 2018). Along with this, mention can be made of the facebook page, which was created for providing support, aid and assistance to the women, who have been a victim of sexual harassment in workplace. Regular monitoring of the page enhances the awareness of the social activists about the intensity of the tragedies, which the women have encountered.

Mention can be made of UK, where, British businessmen bribed the victims with non-disclosure agreements and substantial sums. This reflects the suppression of the women through the patriarchial society. This issue degrades the efforts of the protestors towards upgrading the standards of living in case of the marginalized community women (Nytimes.com, 2018).

Tarana Burke is the lady, who is to be credited for initiating the movement. In one of her interviews on Philadelphia newspaper, she expresses her tragic fate, which she encountered when she was 6 years old. One of the positive points is that she fought with the neighbourhood boys and did not succumb to their attempts like other girls. This experience prepared her for dealing with the harsh realities of life. Most importantly, she gained an insight into the treatment, which is needed after undergoing such experiences. In the process of finding the cure and treatment of the wounds, she gained determination towards helping the women, who underwent similar tragedy in their lives. She emphasized on healing the wounds of the coloured women (Nytimes.com (2018).

Inadequate survival essentials add to the tragedies of Burke. However, she credits her mother for supporting her in her struggles. Along with this, habit of reading helped her to add positivity in her tragic life. One of her initiatives was Just Be Inc, which was created for improving the quality of lifestyle of the coloured women.

Tarana Burke and her contribution

From the earlier times, women have been subjected under the male dominance. In all spheres of life, women were compelled to face harassments, which acted as an obstacle in their individualism. With the advent of harsh, orthodox and rigid religious views, the male dominance gained momentum, entrapping the women within the shackles of patriarchy (Stevens, 2017). They failed to express the emotional turmoils. In such a scenario, MeToo campaigns proves beneficial in addressing the injustices, which the women experience in their life. In this case, selection of the movement is appropriate in terms of planning empowerment of these women. Providing wider platforms like social media to the women reflects advancement in the thoughts about women empowerment.

As the course material revolves around the subject of sociology, therefore selecting the topic of MeToo movement is appropriate in terms of seeking an insight into the ways and means through which respect for women can be increased within the society. Malice like sexual harassments degrade the society, especially for the women. Here, one of the aspects is the social media, which the people could not imagine earlier (Bbc.com, 2018). With the advancement of thoughts, alterations came within the approaches towards the women and their quality of living. Introduction of various social networking sites like Twitter helped the suppressed and marginalized women to raise their voice against the sufferings. Typical evidence of this lies in the access, which is provided to the students to make a mass appeal to the public to join them in this movement.  

Social media generates hope for the community people regarding the improvement of the living standards. The volunteers and the social activists plays a major role in protesting against the atrocities inflicted upon the women. The university students are trained about taking quality care of the community women, who have been a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace (Bbc.com, 2018). If these women are working, then they have decided to be self-dependent. Harassments pose as a threat to their efforts. It is at this stage that campaigns like MeToo take shape.

If a survivor can start a campaign of this magnitude, then it is an example for the women, who lament for lackadaisical approach of the government towards making the society a better place for the women. These campaigns aim to secure the life of women, where the focus should not be limited to the racial grounds. Even the white women face harassments in the workplace. This assertion raises doubts on the flexibility of MeToo campaign towards enhancing the security of women. The responses on the social media reflects that the movement is a flexible move towards upgrading the standards of living for the community women. Access to the social networking sites is a crucial thing to monitor. This is in terms of ensuring whether their plea reaches to the public. This issue raises the question whether social media has really ended the harassments in the workplace (Nytimes.com, 2018). The starting lines of the article by Harvard Business review seems so. The statistics regarding 87% of the Americans favouring zero tolerance for sexual harassment is a typical evidence of this.

Benefits of MeToo Campaign

One of the positive results of MeToo campaign is that it has altered the scope and arena of discussions between two female colleagues. Before the advent of social networks, their conversations revolved around how to protect themselves from the patriarchial surveillance. As a part of the campaign, sex education has been introduced in the school curriculum, which is a wise move towards preparing the girls for their self defense in the future lives. Discussions and lectures on sex education helped the teachers in assessing the approach of the students. In case of the women, who have been a victim, assurance regarding the security of their response helped in gaining an insight into the intensity of tragedy, which they have faced (Nytimes.com, 2018).

Trainings related to sex education is beneficial in terms of assessing the familiarity of the community women towards the harassments, which have taken place in the workplace. Within this, Data Protection Act (1998) is necessary in terms of maintaining the security and privacy within the responses of the community women. Confidential of the responses is one of the vital aspects in terms of enhancing the cultural diversity (Nytimes.com, 2018).

One of the important part of the MeToo campaign is interactive sessions. Indulging the therapists in these communications is beneficial in terms of measuring the impact of these injustices on the behaviour of these women. This is because sexual harassments generates depression within the women, heavily affecting the performance. Using personality tests for assessing the behaviour of the women helps in seeking an insight into the type of support, which can be provided to the victims of sexual harassments (Nytimes.com, 2018).

Conclusion

Women has been supressed by the patriarchy since the earlier times. They have been confined within the four walls, forcing them to succumb to injustices. This posed an obstacle towards the enhancement of their individualism. Campaigns like Metoo came as an escape for the women in terms of upgradation in the standards of living. Broader platforms like social media conveyed the public about the injustices faced by the women. Explorative approach of the social activists and reformers forms the base for the essay. Consideration of newspaper articles alarms the readers about the level of sexual harassment in the present times. Within this, technology has revolutionized the workplace culture. Along with this, credit needs to be given to the policies, like Zero Tolerance Power, which safeguards the women from injustices. The governmental interventions and community programs align with the course materials relates to sociology. Along with this, the initiatives towards training the students on the uses of social networking sites, which reflects the communicative parameter, one of the important aspect of MeToo campaign. Survey questionnaires form a crucial document in assessing the support, which needs to be provided to the women, who have been a victim of sexual harassments in the workplace.

References

Bbc.com (2018). Metoo campign. [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46393369?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cql0269k80xt/metoo-campaign&link_location=live-reporting-story

Bbc.com (2018). News about MeToo. [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-45818699

Hbr.org (2018). Now what?. [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://hbr.org/cover-story/2018/01/now-what

Hearn, J. (2018). You, them, us, we, too?… online–offline, individual–collective, forgotten–remembered, harassment–violence. European Journal of Women's Studies, 25(2), 228-235.

Metoomvmt.org (2018). You are not alone. [online] Retrieved 6^th December 2018 from https://metoomvmt.org/

Nytimes.com (2018). Metoo moment: Navigating sex in the Gray life. [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/us/the-metoo-moment-navigating-sex-in-the-gray-zone.html?rref=collection%2Fseriescollection%2Fmetoo-moment&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

Nytimes.com (2018). Metoo moment: when mothers and daughters talk about Metoo. [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/the-metoo-moment-when-mothers-and-daughters-talk-metoo.html?rref=collection%2Fseriescollection%2Fmetoo-moment&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection

Nytimes.com (2018). Metoo: Parsing the generational divide. [online]. Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/us/the-metoo-moment-parsing-the-generational-divide.html?rref=collection%2Fseriescollection%2Fmetoo-moment&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection

Nytimes.com (2018). Reckoning teaching about the metoo moment and sexual harassment with resources from the New York Times. [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/learning/lesson-plans/the-reckoning-teaching-about-the-metoo-moment-and-sexual-harassment-with-resources-from-the-new-york-times.html

Nytimes.com (2018). What happened when after women broke the silence? [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/22/us/the-metoo-moment-what-happened-after-women-broke-the-silence-elsewhere.html?rref=collection%2Fseriescollection%2Fmetoo-moment&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=10&pgtype=collection

Stevens, H. (2017). MeToo campaign proves scope of sexual harassment, flaw in Mayim Bialik’s op-ed. Chicago Tribune.

Telegraph.co.uk (2018). British Metoo scandal cannot be revealed. [online] Retrieved 6^th Dec 2018 from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/23/british-metoo-scandal-cannot-revealed/