We are in a time of awakening, an end to silence, and a beginning to justice. Our daily news is filled with hundreds of victim statements from Larry Nassar’s case to celebrities proudly showing off their Time’s Up pin on the red carpet.

However, what does this all mean for our future?

Time’s Up, but now what?

For women, and the little girls that watch us, we are learning to stand up for ourselves. We are learning that we can’t be silenced and that our stories are worth sharing. We are learning to be brave and to fight for our rights to our bodies.

As a woman in college, I am learning that when I enter the workplace, I should feel safe and respected.

For men, and the little boys that watch them, they are learning that their actions do not go unnoticed. They are learning that behaviors that may have been acceptable at one point in time are not acceptable anymore. Most importantly, they are learning to view women with respect and equality rather than as objects or subordinates.

For us all, we are learning to reprimand silence and encourage communication. We are learning responsibility not only for our own actions, but for our own words, or lack thereof.

We are raising new generations of girls and boys under the noise of a movement that brings justice to thousands of victims.

We are learning to understand where our previous generations might have gone wrong and we are now finally making up for it.

This isn’t to say that we are done, or that there is no more need for change. We are still far from having perfect equality; women are still being underpaid in the workforce and I don’t doubt that there are millions of others who have still not received their justice.

However, for our future, we are on the right track.

We are scrapping out the old Larry Nassar’s and Harvey Weinstein’s and bringing attention to their wrongdoings in the hopes that their actions will not continue.

For our future, we are creating a world where sexual harassment and assault will not be something you can debate or excuse, or that can be swept under the table. We are creating a world where boys grow up already understanding their accountability and the strength of women.

Yes, we still have a lot to improve in regards to how we construct gender and sexual relations. And yes, there will always be bad and messed up people in the world. But, with new rules being established, wrongdoings being acknowledged, and silence being broken, we are on a journey to a more promising future.