It's a silence breaker twitter movement that actually encourages women from all over the world to come to come forward and share their sexual harrasment stories, although the phrase was first coined a decade ago by a female activist.....
The now sweeping campaign was created on social media by actress Alyssa Milano to show the magnitude of sexual assault women have suffered or are still encountering at all facets of their lives. So far over half a million women have tweeted #me_too, and this all started when Alyssa Milano called for legal action against Hollywood mogul Harvey weinstein, after she accused him of raping her, it was created in the wake of the veteran producer's downfall over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Posting them on twitter, that she got the #me_too suggestion from a friend who felt that to give the public a sense of the magnitude of the problem, women who have been sexually assaulted or harassed should post #me_too. Men have also been using the hashtag to show support to women and also reveal their own incidents of abuse too.
So far dozens of female Hollywood celebrities like Gabrielle Union, Sheryl Crow, Lady gaga have tweeted #me_too to reveal the sexual harassment they have suffered at some point in their lives. Nigeria too has caught in on the trend that started since late last year, and there has been a rise of our female celebrities coming forward to talk about their assault including Nigeria's favorite author and feminist Chimamanda Adiche and veteran actress Steph Nora Okere.
Yet, despite this encouraging realities there hasn't been a shocking tidal wave of accusations here in Nigeria as there have been abroad. Female survivors of sexual abuse are still not comfortable enough to come forward. The reason are not too difficult to ascertain other than the strong resistance issued from our deeply patriarchal society and cultural expectations often bolstered by traditional and religious beliefs.
In Nigeria women are blamed and shamed for not 'guarding themselves' and 'behaving appropriately' in situations where sexual misconduct occurred. Infact it is common to read reports about harassment online and see comments blaming the woman because of 'how she dressed' or 'how she carried herself'.
The legal system too is not also on the side of female survivors, especially if the accused is a very important personality in the society. The system is just too slow and corrupt, in 2015 it was widely reported that Nigeria only had 18 recorded rape convictions in its entire legal history.
Even marital rape is not considered a crime in Nigeria, and the trust between the public and the police is low, particularly with crimes of rape. However, there has been light at the end of this tunnel going by the support gotten especially from foundations and NGO's tackling crimes of this nature. For example the Mirabel Sexual assault center which has been open since 2013, has seen more than 2,000 patients and the numbers are still increasing.
I will continue to use my voice on this platform to encourage Nigerian women to speak up on time about harassment they've suffered or are still enduring, if you are too scared to share it online because of the heavy burdens of stigma, shame and cultural notions of our primitive patriarchal society.
Please share your pain, so that professional counselors can handle the trauma you've experienced with expertise and you will be free by God's grace, because let's face it you can't be happy and sad at the same time, you are the only one who can love yourself more than anyone . Speak up now and save yourself and the sanity of your mind....
Writer: Babatunde Modupe
Pic Credit: Google images.
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