Media and its Effect on Sexual Abuse Awareness


The reason I started this blog as my project in my writing class is because many things are happening in today’s world that are bringing this to a new light. In the last few months there was a twitter trend happening called “#MeToo”. This trend was based around victims coming around and calling out their abuse and who did it in hopes of other victims coming to light and sharing their experiences as well. This has helped a lot of celebrities even share their attacks as well. This all started with Alyssa Milano and expanded to other celebrities. When this happened it brought to light sexual allegations against Harvey Weinstein, who was accused of sexually assaulting many actors for many years. This caused him to essentially be blackballed from Hollywood. People, but mostly women are using #MeToo as an outlet to get their stories across. The people who use this outlet are seen as less alone because they see now that other people have experienced what they have as well. It is seen that only around 18% of all rapes are reported (Reporting). This means that rapes aren’t being taken care of in the way they should be. Sexual assault awareness needs to be spread more. This is being seen in lots of media like TV shows and movies. A popular TV show this is seen is Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. This show specializes in reports of rapes. While this is seen as entertainment for viewers who enjoy crime shows, the producers and actors on this show use its views as an outlet to spread awareness. They also had a commercial surrounding a phrase called “No More” to preach that there are no more excuses for rape. Some of these excuses of the past have included, “She was drunk” “She wanted it” “She didn’t say no” “She was flirting with me before” “We were making out” “She was asking for it”. Media, like Law and Order, have helped execute those excuses by invalidating them. To invalidate them they’ve had to come up with metaphors to show that just because they didn’t say no, doesn’t mean they said yes. In any case, what they need to do is show that women are people, and people can’t just attack someone’s well being like that and do something that is so personal. Recently, the #MeToo campaign has tied into a recent campaign of the new Alabama senator. During the #MeToo takeover on Twitter, 4 women accused Roy Moore of sexual assault and rape when they were as young as 14 (contributors). This took ahold of many news articles. Moore tried hard to make the sources disappear, but it was too late. People started to see Moore as a “pedophile rapist” and in turn, possibly cost him his election. People need to continue this trend and take a stand. If posting personal stories online and starting a hashtag is what it takes for people to see that this is a real life issue then I say what needs to be done is what needs to be done. Whatever it takes for women and men to live in a safe world without having to worry about their sexual dignity.


contributor, Joe Concha opinion. “Washington Post and #MeToo movement won the night in 
            Alabama.” TheHill, 13 Dec. 2017, thehill.com/opinion/campaign/364684-washington-post-
            and-metoo-movement-won-the-night-in-alabama.
Reporting Sexual Assault: Why Survivors Often Don’t.
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b0P0zKsWUJ0&v=1&r=https%3a%2f%2focrsm.umd.edu%2ffiles%2fWhy-Is-Sexual-As
sault-Under-Reported.pdf&p=DevEx,5067.1.

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