Between Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, the hashtag #metoo has taken off in order to raise awareness about sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Careful not to use any phrases that might be triggering to those with sexual assault related PTSD the movement intends to point out just how many people have been harassed and assaulted, at least once in their lifetime.
Variations of the status litter the internet. Some with a simple #MeToo, others with the message
"Me too,
If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote "Me too." as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem."
Others using more inclusive language to remember that our trans brothers and non binary friends exist.
Some chose just to replace the word "women" with the word "people."
The strangest thing is, while trying to find a particular number for how many times the hashtag has been used, I found that Facebook doesn't even seem to have that option, and Twitter... Well twitter used that field to explain the hashtag and omit the number.
Judging however by the numbers under the other hashtags, the top trending hashtag #MeToo has been used at least over 20.4k times in less than 24 hours on twitter alone.
According to one twitter user, the hashtag is being used 4x per second.
There are literally 4 tweets per second of women posting the #metoo, indicating that they were too a victim of sexual assault. This really shows the breadth of just how serious Sexual Assault is, not only in America, but everywhere in the world. I feel disgusted and sad.
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) October 15, 2017
According to KeyHole, as of 8pm EST on Sunday October 15th, the hashtag has been used primarily by those who identify as women at 80.2%. 19.8% of users using this hashtag self identify as men.
Primarily being used in the USA, Canada and certain European Nations are also using the hashtag aswell.
It seems to have started with Rose McGowan's now deleted tweet (Deleted by Twitter for her use of a phone number), #WomenWhoRoar came to the defense of Rose McGowan, and over the course of a few hours it evolved into showing how many people have been victims of sexual assault or harassment.
The impact of this is staggering, a lot of support and love, and my entire facebook timeline filled with women, men, and enbys sharing their stories, a most awe inspiring and depressing moment for social media.
