Two little words have taken social media by storm: Me Too. A campaign started by activist Tarana Burke and made viral by actor Alyssa Milano, the Me Too movement gave voice, through stories and shares, to countless survivors of sexual violence.
At least part of the reason for the collective impact of Me Too was that there did not seem to be a lot of parsing about whether one bad experience was worse than another, or whether one industry or individual had more of a right to speak. Rather, a sudden conversation about sexual harassment in the entertainment industry quickly became a larger one about sexual harassment, assault and abuse in every field and in everyday life, all around the world. In this way, the words “Me Too” revealed the devastating, overwhelming magnitude of the problem and, at the same time, they communicated what may be the most powerful message of all: “You are not alone.”
I know this because, as a clinical psychologist, most of my clients are women and men who, almost as long as they can remember, have suffered from feeling alone. Most come to my office because they have experiences — including, but not limited to, sexual abuse — that they feel they have no one to talk to about, or they fear no one else will understand. As a result, I spend my days behind closed doors hearing about events that, often, have taken place behind closed doors, too. One thing I have learned is that many, many people feel isolated with similar troubles, unaware that they are not as alone or as different as they think.
[For more on this story by Meg Jay, go to http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a13445571/how-to-be-stronger-after-trauma/]
Comments (0)