There’s no denying the fact that social media today has the power to get our voice heard and the power to make a remarkable difference in society.
The #MeToo movement, which was started over a decade ago by activist Tarana Burke to harness “empowerment through empathy” for victims of sexual assault got bigger and better this year after actor Alyssa Milano asked victims of sexual harassment and violence to let their voices be heard.
With each passing year, social media’s power is increasing exponentially and this year was a just an example of it, especially when it came to amplifying voices involved in various feminist movements. We’ve listed eight movement-hashtags that were trending this year and hopefully will trend until a significant change is brought about in the world.
#MeToo
The hashtag #MeToo was the biggest movement on social media this year. According to CBS News, in just 24 hours, the movement became popular all over Facebook, getting about 12 million posts, comments, and reactions by 4.7 million users around the world. Over 1.7 million tweets included the hashtag “#MeToo,” with 85 countries that had at least 1,000 #MeToo tweets in 10 days.
It is an anti-sexual violence movement, which was started in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Actor Alyssa Milano tweeted to women to speak up if they have ever been sexually assaulted in any way using #MeToo, to let the world know that this is a serious issue. And the retweets and FB posts saw millions of women along with celebrities joining the movement.
#IWillSpeakUp
The entire Harvey Weinstein episode ignited a fire within many individuals and communities to not stay silent anymore. Joyful Heart Foundation started the movement #IWillSpeakUp for men to pledge to use their platform to educate and promote a healthy, respectful idea of manhood.
This campaign is asking men to speak to other boys and men in their lives about sexism, and speak out against the violence and abuse that women go through.
#LahuKaLagaan
Started by the non-profit organization She Says, it was a movement to make sanitary pads tax-free. Many celebrities joined the movement by asking Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to abolish the tax on sanitary products for women from the Goods and Services Tax System. The tax on sanitary pads is 14% under GST.
#WomensMarch
The day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45 President of the United States, more than a million women marched against him. It was started by retired attorney Teresa Shook, who created a Facebook event to protest Trump’s inauguration and soon had thousands of people wanting to join in. The march was not an anti-Trump protest, instead its idea was to celebrate democracy and diversity, with people across the world coming together to support women’s rights and equality.
#NeverthelessShePersisted
US Senator Elizabeth Warren was interrupted in the middle of her speech by attorney general nominee Senator Jeff Sessions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended Jeff’s interruption by saying, “Sen. Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” This created a sarcastic outrage on Twitter, mostly by women who reminded the world that they have been asked a million times to be “silent” and yet they have persisted and achieved what they had to.
Women related to the situation as it’s not the first time a woman was silenced while making a point. Soon, people applied McConnell’s sentences to any notable situation — historical or fictional — in which women had been silenced under #NeverthelessShePersisted.
#WomenBoycottTwitter
October 13, 2017 was observed as #WomenBoycottTwitter in solidarity with actor Rose McGowan, whose account was suspended by Twitter. This happened after she came out publicly against Weinstein and claimed that he had raped her. This snowballed into a silent protest against Twitter’s not-so-safe safety rules for women, who face harassment by trolls on an everyday basis.
It was started by a software engineer Kelly Ellis, and was soon joined by many Hollywood celebrities. Senior Indian journalist Barkha Dutt also joined the protest.
#LoveIsLove
Australia witnessed a historic result of the survey for same-sex marriage and decided to pave the way to legalise it.
Before the survey, people tweeted to urge other people to come out in support for what they believe in and soon #LoveIsLove and #MarriageEquality started trending.
#HowIWillChange
One of the most heartwarming movements this year by men in support for women. Men from around the around came out in support for women who have been sexually harassed and responded to #MeToo with #HowIWillChange.
They tweeted to demonstrate how they will be better allies. It was first started by Benjamin Law.