{"id":54102,"date":"2018-10-30T15:45:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T19:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=54102"},"modified":"2018-10-30T17:05:19","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T21:05:19","slug":"metoo-founder-urges-brock-community-to-embrace-the-movements-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2018\/10\/metoo-founder-urges-brock-community-to-embrace-the-movements-message\/","title":{"rendered":"#MeToo founder urges Brock community to embrace the movement\u2019s message"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behind each #MeToo hashtag, behind each sexual violence statistic, there is a person, says Tarana Burke.<\/span><\/p>\n

The civil rights activist and founder of the #MeToo movement urged a sold-out crowd at Brock University to look beyond the statistics to \u201csee the people, not just the numbers\u201d during a powerful presentation Oct. 29 in Sean O\u2019Sullivan Theatre.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThink of the emotional labour behind each one of those hashtags,\u201d she said of the movement that has swept the globe. \u201cEach one is a person who agonized over whether or not to post. What if I post and nobody believes me? What if I say “Me Too” and nobody cares?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The audience hung on every word as Burke recounted how the #MeToo movement began more than a decade ago, long before it became a hashtag and a worldwide celebrity-fueled media phenomenon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in The Bronx, N.Y., Burke developed a program that gave girls in her community a safe, non-judgmental space to develop their self-worth and to be loved and accepted.<\/span><\/p>\n

As her community work progressed, the need for programming around sexual violence became obvious. Burke described how unstructured conversations with children turned to discussions of sexual violence \u201calways, without fail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2006, she created #MeToo as a community program to support young girls who had experienced sexual harassment, abuse or assault. Soon, women\u2019s groups across the country began asking for the workshops and resource kits. Burke realized that \u201cadult women needed the same help that we were giving to kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

#MeToo has had an online presence since 2007, but the movement gained sudden and significant recognition in 2017 with the rise of the hashtag after the Harvey Weinstein allegations went public.<\/span><\/p>\n

Burke said she wasn\u2019t surprised by the number of people who came forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat surprised me is the sustained international dialogue around sexual violence,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

She spoke of the importance of making the university campus a safe space.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all, this is often the first place where kids go to when they leave home. This is their community,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Burke read aloud the Brock University mission statement and issued a challenge: \u201cCommit to making the campus less vulnerable to sexual violence\u201d and \u201cintegrate that commitment into the mission statement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking directly to students, she said the solution \u201cshould be made around you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMe Too is a global community of survivors, advocates and allies committed to ending violence through healing and action,\u201d Burke said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat work is growing, just as it grew 12 years ago: person by person, community by community, on the ground, from the ground up. The difference is that now we have more people now, more access to resources, a bigger voice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Burke encouraged the audience not to shy away from difficult or controversial conversations but rather to embrace them, especially in the coming season of family gatherings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSpeak truth, but not just to power,” she said. “We\u2019ve got to speak truth to each other.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shannon Kitchings, a research assistant in the Office of Human Rights and Equity Services, said Burke\u2019s visit \u201csignals that our community is ready to have these difficult conversations.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In her closing remarks, Burke said her presentation was \u201cnot an awareness campaign.”<\/p>\n

“We have a moral imperative. Let\u2019s work together. Let\u2019s heal together. If you are ready to do that work, I can only leave you with these two words: Me Too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Behind each #MeToo hashtag, behind each sexual violence statistic, there is a person, says Tarana Burke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":54103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,1,4],"tags":[2575,7058],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54104,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54102\/revisions\/54104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}