Over the past few weeks, ever since the Harvey Weinstein scandal, it’s been hard to ignore the headlines that keep appearing in the media. More and more big-name celebrities, in movies or comedy or producers or politics, have been accused of sexual assault or harassment. Some accept full responsibility for what happened, while others completely deny all allegations made against them.

Survivors are becoming empowered to come forward and share their stories.

Many people in the world think that a lot of the brave individuals who come forward with their stories are making it all up for attention. However, there have been research studies to back up the idea that false reporting is actually incredibly uncommon, to where only two to ten percent of reports are false reports. With a percent that low, it’s incredibly unlikely that these survivors are somehow all coming forward at the same time with a made up story for attention.

Rather, what I believe in, is that survivors are starting to be empowered. This empowerment comes from actually being believed in, for once. Our society will constantly victim-blame, slut-shame, and dismiss stories and claims from the survivors or sexual harassment or assault. This creates a society where they are silenced, forced to stay in the shadows and not come forth with what happened to them.

As these allegations against celebrities and big personalities in the world are being taken more seriously, so are survivors. They can come forward and hope to be taken more seriously than before. It's their time to break the silence and talk about what's happened to them, regardless of the amount of power a person has in society today.

Whether or not it's a man or a woman, all stories are valid. All experiences can affect someone, no matter what age it happened to them at. It could have happened at age 14 or age 32 and it's still valid either way. For those celebrities who say they didn't know it was wrong, or didn't try to sexually harass someone, it doesn't matter. And you should know it was wrong. In what scenario is it okay for you to expose yourself, or make another person uncomfortable, just because you want to? Just because you're in a position of power to do as you please doesn't make it okay.

I applaud everyone who has had the courage to come forward and share their stories. It's time to end the stigma behind being a survivor of harassment or assault. It's time to shatter the silence.