The #MeToo movement goes viral
- Date
- October 2017 onward
- Category
- Social & demographic
- Region
- Global
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
In October 2017, following investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker into sexual-abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, the phrase 'Me Too' spread explosively across social media.
On 15 October 2017 actress Alyssa Milano urged those who had experienced sexual harassment or assault to reply 'me too', and the hashtag was used hundreds of thousands of times within a day, eventually millions of times worldwide. The phrase had originally been coined by activist Tarana Burke in 2006 to support survivors. The viral movement prompted a global reckoning with sexual harassment and abuse, leading to the downfall of numerous powerful men in entertainment, politics, business, and media, new workplace policies, and legal and cultural shifts across many countries. #MeToo became a defining example of social-media-enabled activism, amplifying survivors' voices while also generating debate over due process, backlash, and uneven impact across class and country.
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Related social & demographic events
- The COVID-19 pandemic11 March 2020
- The AIDS Epidemic Is First Identified1981
- George Floyd's murder and global Black Lives Matter protestsMay–June 2020
- The Great Leap Forward and the Great Chinese Famine1958–1962
- Obergefell v. Hodges legalises same-sex marriage across the US26 June 2015
- The European migrant and refugee crisis2015
Further reading
The wider story
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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