The #MeToo Movement, 2 Years Later

Two years later, what has the #MeToo movement actually changed?

Giving women the voice they deserve


It’s been 2 years since #MeToo took off, shifting the conversation around sexual assault and harassment. In the U.S., more than 250 celebrities, CEOs, politicians have been accused of sexual misconduct according Temin & Co. Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump, Matt Lauer, Al Franken, Louis CK, Mario Batali, and Les Moonves to name a few. Investigations from The New York Times and New Yorker into the alleged decades-long sexual misconduct of Harvey Weinstein unleashed a wave of stories, inspired by Tarana Burke’s Me Too movement, which she launched in 2006.


Although the current use of the phrase Me Too dates back to 2006, when it was first created by Tarana Burke as a means of connecting sexual abuse survivors, it didn’t become a viral movement until October 2017. Following a slew of assault allegations against famed producer Harvey Weinstein, hundreds of people began using the hashtag to reveal their own experiences with sexual misconduct in their respective industries. Eventually, the Me Too Movement became analyzed under a journalistic viewpoint, as writers and editors began to push the movement into larger news networks and labor sectors.


In November 2018, Cleveland, Ohio radio station WDOK Star 102 announced that it had removed the song Baby, It's Cold Outside from its playlist because listeners felt that the lyrics were inappropriate. The station's host commented that "in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, the song has no place". The streaming service Spotify removed music by XXXTentacion and R. Kelly from Spotify-owned playlists after allegations of "hateful conduct", but later reversed course due to the fact that the allegations against the artists were unproven. Weinstein turned himself in to face rape charges — but he continues to deny the allegations. In the past 2 years the movement has gone global. Weinstein's trial is set for January 2020. While #MeToo has touched several industries, activists say it still has a long way to go.


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