Every day, I wake up to at least one news notification on my phone about someone around the world being sexually assaulted, harassed or abused. It has been going on for years, but the craze really happened in September when celebrities began talking about being sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein.
From there, the #MeToo movement took off. Millions of people came forward about their sexual abuse stories and hundreds of perpetrators we exposed.
And yet, here we are, still hearing about sexual harassment cases.
The other day, James Franco was accused of sexual assault by five women. Five women. That's one woman for each member of my family.
Seven board members of the Humane Society resigned because their CEO was not, in fact, fired after he was accused of sexual misconduct. NFL stars and familiar faces from our childhood have all been accused, and most have been found guilty.
The numbers of stars accused of rape and assault grew so quickly that NBC News published a list of 40 plus people (and counting) who have been under fire.
Why are we doing nothing about the people sexually assaulting our future generations?
The people who were assaulted are, for the most part, younger people; these people have to grow up feeling like a part of them was taken against their will.
They have to live the rest of their lives knowing they were taken advantage of. And most have to live their lives knowing their abuser didn't get the sentence they deserved.
James Franco's victims, for example, will probably never get the justice or attention their case deserves. When you Google the actor's name, not a single one of the top five suggestions from the search engine has anything to do with him sexually assaulting multiple women.
Franco took advantage of multiple young women who simply wanted to pursue their acting career. However, not many people know that because it is overshadowed simply because he is an actor and he denied those claims.
When will we give every and all sexual harassment cases the publicity and attention they all deserve?
Many people probably know less than half of the cases on NBC News' article.
Why?
Because we keep allowing sexual predators off the hook and sweep cases under the rug in hopes of preserving reputations.
#TimesUp, people.
Hollywood and other major corporations can't continue to keep this important information from us, and we can't keep letting abusers off the hook.
Every single person who sexually assaulted another person deserves the same punishment Larry Nassar received: a lifetime in jail.
