The power of the hashtag

Social media must not only be a medium of protest but also a tool to mobilise people

There is no denying that there is a great deal of stigma attached to speaking about sexual assault. Most women hesitate to speak to the police or even their family and friends when they are abused. They fear they will be blamed for ‘inviting’ it (“What were you wearing?”). They’re afraid they won’t be believed. They feel guilty and ashamed (“Could I have resisted more forcefully?” or “There must be some reason why he attacked me”) — emotions that the abuser, not the victim, should feel. They fear they will be seen differently by people; they feel “tainted”, “dirty”. And so, many women quietly carry the burden of their stories with them, pretending like nothing ever happened.

The single-most important success of the #MeToo online campaign is that it is breaking this age-old stigma. Stories poured out when American actor Alyssa Milano tweeted on Sunday encouraging women who have endured any form of harassment or assault to speak about it with the hashtag #MeToo, in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Since then, more than half a million women have spoken up on Twitter and Facebook. It may have been difficult earlier to come by people who have been abused; now it seems like there are few women who haven’t been groped, assaulted, or raped. And the chilling fact is that this number only includes those who have been willing to speak and have access to the Internet.

Speaking out

But many also expressed how wary they are of such campaigns: how does online activism help? Are stories being reduced to a hashtag? When men also began using #MeToo to either speak up about their own experiences of assault or to admit to ways in which they have perpetuated a system of violence (“we have rated women”), there was confusion. Did #MeToo mean speaking out as a victim or as a passive perpetrator of a culture of violence?

Moreover, Twitter and Facebook are online platforms where people more often than not speak to not one person in particular, but shout into a void and sometimes in the garb of anonymity. Regarding a serious crime like assault, who is hearing the story of each victim?

Online activism is not to be seen as an end it itself. We witnessed the power of the medium in the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the jallikattu protests. What began online spilled on to the streets — and how! The power of #MeToo is that it has encouraged many difficult conversations — many women I spoke to said they now feel a sense of solidarity. Those who earlier thought they were alone in their experience have found not some but hundreds of companions across the world, a disturbing fact that calls for urgent action.

The 2012 protests in Delhi, where the rallying cry was “enough is enough”, resulted in the exceptionally well thought-out Justice J.S. Verma Committee recommendations. But how many of these are being implemented? Can we use social media not only as a medium but also as a tool to translate conversations into a call for action? The answer is yes; the hashtag has its power. #MeToo, yes, but let’s also ask #WhatNext?