Why didn’t you complain at that moment?? Most girls face this question when they open up about an abuse they had. But one cannot react at the moment itself as one may take a while to realise what had happened. The targeted girl or woman goes totally blank for a few seconds as the unexpected abuse happened at a public place or on public vehicles.

The molested one fears what others may think or what if no one comes for support after raising her voice against the abuser. Many woman won't have the courage to complain once she is troubled. The society is of no help as it likes a spectacle. Often she is asked: “Did it happen without your knowledge?” “What outfit you wore?

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But the famous hashtag “#MeToo” is helping women today to come forward to talk about sexual harassment and assault they had faced. While turning the pages on “Metoo”, things are getting clearer. It commenced as a movement against workplace harassment and began to spread fast after October 2017 as a online initiative that attempts to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of the problem.

The popular campaign traces its origin to African-American civil rights Tarana Burke. When a 13-year-old girl explained about her sexual assault during the making of a documentary film, Burke was unable to answer to the questions the girl asked but said “Me too” to comfort and express solidarity with her. It became a movement after actress Alyssa Milano accused Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein for sexual assault on the hastag #MeToo in October 2017 and urged women to say "Me Too" to reveal their own harassment cases. From then on the online-based campaign spread globally and took off in India recently.

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However, the online protest is pointless because there is no proof enough but only a word of mouth. Anyone can tell anything to defame someone. Anyhow, #Metoo could be a space or a platform to express about an abuse that had happened especially in childhood. It is widely known such abuses are perpetrated by people familiar to us. At that point of time the child may not be able to resist. It is only during the later stages, the abused realise it was harassment. Here the child cannot be blamed as he or she was not in a situation to express that. Even in later years the abused hesitates to talk because no one understands. Those unpleasant things have to be brought out. And “#MeToo helps. 

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