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Katurah Emery

Dr. Cassel

ENG 101

28 November 2018

The Me-Too Movement on Government Policy

I decided to research the topic of the Me-Too Movement that began in 2017. Personally, I

believe that everyone has the right to stand up and be heard, which is exactly what this

movement is about. Many of the survivors of sexual assault or harassment feel as though they are

to be blamed when in reality it is the person who acted against them that is. Think about this, a

woman was working a night shift with a group of male coworkers who she thought as her

friends. As the evening went on the men began to spit dirty comments sexualizing her. Quickly,

words were no longer the issue. The situation escalated to the men ganging up on her, touching

her hair and other parts of her body. The following day the woman went to report the situation to

a higher supervisor who did not take the incident seriously and did not report it. There was no

report because there were no legislation saying that issues such as sexual assault and harassment

had no guidelines on how to take action. Not many policies have been changed or at least spoken

out in positive notions about the change. Although the Me-Too Movement has brought attention

to sexual harassment, it has not been completely eradicated in the work place.
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The Me-Too Movement was the start of a movement that showed widespread result of

sexual assault in the work place. Dr. Lee is a psychiatrist, wrote an article called, “Me-Too

Movement; It is Time

That We All Act and

Participate in

Transformation,” which

investigated the

percentage of people

who have experienced

abuse in the medical

Figure 1 Assaulted and sympathetic women jumped on the bandwagon of the Me-Too Movement and
added a range of stupid, uncomfortable, and absurd but consensual interactions they've had work fields. His research
encountered with men.

showed that 30% of women and 6% of men in the United States dealt with some degrees of

sexual harassment or assault. Most of Dr. Lee’s research pointed that faculty members were the

cause of the dismay. Therefore, the movement has led to the widespread discussion as to how to

stop problems with sexual assault in the workplace. Dr. Lee pointed out that there have been

shifts in work places to find sexual harassment, not just sexual assault to be constituted as a

threat and is unacceptable in the workplace. The policy in place provides effective training

programs that include effective reporting and an investigation system, along with the education

and training that are necessary before even beginning a job. Much of the training includes what

words and behaviors are considered sexual assault, gender bias and if he or she experiences such

behavior to be able to speak up without fear and is encouraged to do so. There of course are

many other options outside of the direct reporting system put into place, such as organizations

and hotlines that play a major factor into sexual harassment or assault prevention. Furthermore,
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Dr. Lee states that discrimination based on gender, race, color, religion, national origin, gender

orientation, gender identity, age or disability should not and will not be tolerated in anyone.

Although, the group of people began by speaking their stories and saying that

government policies need to change, there are two barriers that stand in the way: disbelief and

dehumanization of its victims. According to Attorney Mackinnion who wrote the article, “Me-

Too Has Done What the Law Could Not,” the first law to conceive sexual violation in inequality

terms created percussions yet were denied by the abuser. Most survivors did report incidents but

were passed off because the story was not seen as credible. Statistics show that it takes three to

four women to testify against the same man, meaning that women were seen as one fourth of a

man’s credibility. This shows that a man’s value continues to outweigh women’s and that it

needs to change.

The Me-Too Movemnet reached Albany, New York. Since then there have been changes

in laws and new laws set in place to take action. The repercussions of the movement, Jay

Kiyonaga, the Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental

Disabilities was fired do to sexual harassment claims. Former state prosecutor, Patricia Gunning,

says the outcome of the complaint was likely caused by the combination of media pressure and

political sight. Only recently those accused of sexual harassment have faced charges and had to

pay for their actions. “If female elected officials won’t stand up for victims, who will?” Ms.

Vladimer, former staff, “Politics should never get in the way of representing the 10 million

women of New York. This is why victims don’t come forward.” Amy Paulin, assembly women

from Westchester drafted and circulated an open letter decrying workplace sexual harassment

guideline. The concern is whether or not people will maintain to be on their best behavior.
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A few months later, Mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kennedy, made a drastic decision to alter

the cities sexual harassment policies after a searing investigation. According to Jason Axelrod,

the cities controller who watches the financial watchdog, Rebecca Rhynhart, received 121

complaints between July 2012 and April 2018 that ranged from groping to sexual harassment.

Released on July 19, the audit found that 60% of managers and executives have not undergone

the proper training which causes inconsistency in addressing and documenting incidents. The

city found an inadequate and poorly implemented policy. Mayor Kennedy immediately put in

place an online form for filling out sexual harassment complaints that will be able to go directly

to the designated officer or manager.

In the article, “The Legal System Needs to Catch Up with the Me-Too Movement”, Rafia

Zakaria a lawyer, describes a story where a woman came to her with information pretraining to a

matter where her coworkers sexually harassed. That women later reported to a supervisor who

brushed it off, but it continued to worsen until she could not take it any longer. That women

never went back for another consultation, but the story stuck with Zakaria. She noticed many

coworkers in the firm asked her, “What proof did she have?” she found it very concerning that

women in situations such as sexual harassment was being questioned as to whether they were

being truthful. Zakaria said if there was proof, a recording, a couple of people willing to testify to

also having heard the comments, or better yet, harassed themselves if there was no sexual

harassment policy or designated human resource officer to handle the situation. According to the

article, normally, the cost of being accused resolves in a fee. In the woman’s case, she did not

know of any sexual harassment policy in the workforce, but Zakaria suspected one would be

found out when her employers heard of the complaint. Instead of forcing women, many of those
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who earn minimum wage, employer should not forego in hiring men who pose a harassment risk

or men with backgrounds that may resualt them in harassing women in the work force with them.

Gretchen Carlson, a television journalist, watched as Anita Hill accused coworker

Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her on the job. It was not until 25 years later that Ms.

Carlson would file an explosive sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox

News. Then just a few years later, Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh faced sexual

assault allegations, this woman was supported by sexual assault survivors as well as female

senators sitting behind her. “We’ve made such great strides with regard to the fact that women

coming forward now are given a platform to tell their story, that would have never happened

before. But we are still in the ‘he said, she said.’” Ms. Carlson said. The following weeks my not

conclude whether nominee, Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Christine Ford as she claims

but he denies. A week later, after the accusations became public, the Judiciary Committee agreed

to a one-week background check conducted by the FBI on Judge Kavanaugh. The emotion ran

wild with anger and the Republicans forced a last-minute reversal on the background check. The

struggle over his nomination shows how dynamic the Me-Too movement had begun to thread

into the American life. Depending on what the FBI discovers and how the Senate responded

served as the test case for the power of the Me-Too movement. “Do I think that Christine would

have ever been able to have the voice that she did without this movement we are in? No,” Ms.

Carlson responded, “but as a nation, we still have a lot of work to do.”

The effects of the movement have been uneven since the beginning. Allegations of sexual

misconduct have reached the upper industries such as media, entertainment and politics.

President Trump who remains popular with the Republicans despite multiple accusations of

sexual assault and his own admission caught on tape. The reaction that Dr. Blasey received after
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emerging with allegations against Judge Kavanaugh shows how pivotal both sides of the

movement has become. Although Dr. Blasey came forward with decade old claims, she was

embraced and supported by the Me-Too movement activists and women across the country.

When Judge Kavanaugh went before the committee to forcablly deny all allegations his tearful

rant was that Dr. Blasey’s allegations threatened to turn him into a once-powerful man cut down

by an accusation from the past. He bewailed that he may lose the ability to coach his daughters

sports team and teach at Harvard University.

Most of the changes have been placed into action due to the support system that the

movement has created for women and men who have been disregarded by the treatment that they

have received from other humans. I do not believe that humans should treat each other like there

are reports of, we all live an equal society fighting for what we want. The power of the Me-Too

Movement as a social movement into concrete legal changes will make sure that it transforms

not only the lives of celebrities and highly visible perpetrators, but also the ordinary harasser and

the ordinary harassed.

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Works Cited

Axelrod, Jason. “Philadelphia Updates Sexual Harassment Policies Following Searing

Audit.” American City & County Exclusive Insight, July 2018, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost,

ezproxy.wittenberg.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=a9h&AN=130856696&site=ehost-live.

Bun-Hee Lee, “#Me Too Movement; It Is Time That We All Act and Participate in

Transformation”, Us National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health,

Psychiatry Investig. 16 May 2018,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5976010/. Accessed 26 October 2018.

Burke, Tarana. “What Me Too Is Really About - Extended Interview”. Daily Show. 4 June 2018.

MacKinnon, Catharine A. “#MeToo Has Done What the Law Could Not” New York Times,

February 5, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/opinion/metoo-law-legal-

system.html. Accessed 31 October 2018.

Wang, Vivian. “pass: [#]MeToo Came to Albany. But Will It Stick?” New York Times, vol. 167,

no. 57981, 2 June 2018, p. A20. EBSCO

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/nyregion/metoo-albany-sexual-harassment.html.

Ward, Stephanie Francis. “Times Up: As the Me Too Movement Continues to Shed Light on

Sexual Harassment and Assault, Sparking Changes in Various Industries, the Egal and

Judicial Systems Have Been Slow to Adapt.” ABA Journal, vol. 104, no. 6, June 2018,

http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/timesup_legal_judicial_harassment_assault.
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Zakaria, Rafia. “The Legal System Needs to Catch Up With the #MeToo Movement.” The

Nation. 18 April 2018. https://www.thenation.com/article/the-legal-system-needs-to-

catch-up-with-the-metoo-movement/. Accessed 31 October 2018.

Zernike, Kate. “Kavanaugh Battle Shows the Power, and the Limits, of #MeToo

MovementKavanaugh Battle Shows the Power, and the Limits, of #MeToo Movement.”

The New York Times. 29 September 2018.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/us/politics/kavanaugh-blasey-metoo-supreme-

court.html. Accessed 26 November 2018.