Changing the Culture
Recently, victims, their families, and victims’ advocates have taken to social media to insist that society become aware of sexual violence. The current wave of activism started, as a reaction to the 2016 presidential campaign. The activism resulted in the Women’s March, one of the largest events in history with between 3.5 and 5.5 million people participating in the United States and in more than 600 cities on every continent (Women’s March Global, 2018). The marches focused on issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, immigration, health care, workers’ rights, environmental issues, and much more. It was the single largest protest in the history of the United States.
Many people felt empowered enough afterwards to speak out about issues of social injustice and to start demanding changes. The Women’s March launched an increased wave of activism around victims rights, including sexual violence, and it inspired more women than ever to run for elected office in 2017 and 2018. Other movements, such as #BlackLivesMatter, have also addressed these issues through the intersections between sexism and racism.
Between the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, and the #MeToo movement, the issues surrounding sexual violence are coming to the forefront of dialogue in the United States, pushing for increased resources to help victims and to create cultural changes. Image: #MeToo sign at a 2018 Women’s March. Authored by: Alec Perkins. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:2018_New_York_City_Women%27s_March_(39787341232).jpg. License: CC-BY 2.
In October 2017, the #MeToo movement (which started in 2006), demonstrated how pervasive sexual violence is globally. Polling research done by ABC after the movement started found that around 54 percent of women experience harassment (matches with the NCVS). Those polled stated that 95 percent of offenders, the majority of whom were men, were not punished in any way (Zillman, 2017). The movement was started by Tarana Burke in 2006, as a way to empower minority women from underprivileged communities. It was expanded by Alyssa Milano in October 2017, via social media, to demonstrate just how widespread sexual violence is. The movement has morphed from being not just about empowerment, but also about finding ways to hold perpetrators accountable and to change cultures that support, directly as well as indirectly, sexual violence.