Blowing Water | Why women should not post #metoo on social media after revelations of sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein
Luisa Tam says shining a spotlight on the abhorrent misdeeds of sexual predators is admirable and long overdue, but the emphasis needs to be on exposing the perpetrators rather than simply identifying victims
Women around the world have put #metoo on their social media posts and personal profiles over the last few weeks in a show of force to demonstrate their united stance against sexual abuse.
I have refused to follow suit, even though I have been a victim myself. That is because I don’t agree with their approach.
The #metoo movement is being hailed for triggering a paradigm shift in attitudes with the potential to empower women. But these women are going about their campaign the wrong way, as the emphasis should be shifted to exposing those guilty of abuse over identifying victims.
Women should band together to proactively hunt down sexual predators, expose and openly shame them, rather than simply saying they have been victims.
The moment I saw social media awash with a flood of #metoo posts I was overcome by anguish. I was really shocked to find so many women out there had been victims of sexual abuse, and had been suffering in silence. Many of them are my friends and yet we had never talked about it.
I once mentioned to some of my old school friends my unpleasant encounters with a couple of teachers in high school. They sank into silence and gave me a blank stare, which I interpreted as their disbelief or maybe a certain degree of indifference.
