Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Samantha Schmidt.
“If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem,” wrote the actor.
If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2017
Milano starred in “Charmed” alongside Rose McGowan, one of film producer Harvey Weinstein’s accusers. She is also friends with Weinstein’s wife, Georgina Chapman, and wrote in a blog post that she was sickened by the “disturbing” sexual abuse allegations against him.
Women listened. Within hours, tweets with the words “me too” began appearing in droves.
The tweets
- “#MeToo When I served in the military,” tweeted one woman. “More than a few times. I stayed silent for self preservation. I regret it daily.”
- “I imagine there are teen girls who haven’t told their parents they’ve been threatened, groped, even WORSE just like I didn’t,”wrote another.
- “I have been raped twice in my life,”tweeted one woman,“stalked four times and was threatened with my life when I tried to speak out @ 14.”
- There was the woman who said she was assaulted by a man who pretended to work at a local YMCA, and the woman who said she was groped in an elevator by a superior who was nearly two decades older. “I never told anyone,” she said.
- Another recounted how in the sixth grade, a group of boys held her up against a wall as they pulled up her shirt to “see if I stuffed my bra with Charmin or Bounty.”
- “The boys barely got a slap on the wrist but I was socially ostracized because I ‘couldn’t take a joke,’” she said.
- A number of men shared their stories as well, including one who said he was raped by two men in high school and has never gotten over it.
Support from allies
hey dudes if you're surprised how many people posting to #metoo are women you know
— moth dad (@innesmck) October 16, 2017
think what that means about the men you know
Celebrity tweets
This is what we’re up against - people like this creep #MeToo https://t.co/LAvr7gyRah
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) October 16, 2017
All too pervasive... Me too. #MeToo #TogetherWeRise https://t.co/ju5K3USDt8
— Rosario Dawson (@rosariodawson) October 16, 2017
In the past week I have heard from at least 6 different women I have known or just met about being sexually assaulted or harassed. The lid is off. Thank you for all your collective courage. This piece had a good way forward. https://t.co/EnRUqFUOjr https://t.co/lYU6RcHK9S
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 15, 2017
#MyHarveyWeinstein
On October 5, the day the New York Times expose revealed the claims against Weinstein, thousands of people took to Twitter to share their own encounters with sexual harassment in the workplace, using the hashtag #MyHarveyWeinstein.
Milano’s statement
Milano spoke out against Weinstein on her website, Patriot not Partisan, on Oct. 9, four days after the New York Times story was published.
She said the statement was “complicated” for personal reasons, including the fact that she is good friends with Weinstein’s wife, who has since said she is leaving the film producer. The Weinsteins also have two young children Milano’s children have known their entire lives, Milano wrote.
“It is because of my love” for Weinstein’s wife and children “that I haven’t publicly commented on this until now,” Milano wrote. “Please don’t confuse my silence for anything other than respect for a dear friend and her beautiful children.”
