2017 has been the year for recognizing how serious of a problem sexual assault is in America. Throughout the year, thousands of people came forward the with their stories. Once people began coming forward, the more people realized they were not alone and came forward with their stories. As stories outpoured throughout the year, it became more apparent that sexual assault is huge problem in American society. A huge problem, that is going unreported, untold and unsolved.
And it all started with #MeToo.
What started off as a simple hashtag, snowballed into a massive awareness campaign for this huge problem.Now that we have a large awareness to the problem, what are we going to do as a society to make sure that it does not continue.
Are we going to stop victim blaming?
Are we going to stop defending the assaulter?
Are we going to continue to allow sexual assaulters to continue to walk for their crime?
Only time will tell how we are going to find the solution to the problem. What I do know, is that there will be a lot of restructuring in our future. Restructuring of our conversations, our media, our society and our legal system.
Until the time for restructuring begins, it is important to recognize that TIME Magazine recognized “The Silence Breakers” as 2017’s Person(s) of the Year. Recognizing every single person that said #MeToo and broke the silence that haunted sexual assault victims. See the TIME Person of the Year video below:
So know, that if you are a victim of sexual assault, and spoke out about it, you are apart of the solution. You are apart of the campaign for change on how we view sexual assault victims.
And if you did not speak up about your sexual assault, that is okay. Know that you are still apart of the solution, and not the problem. The only problem our society faces, is those who commit sexual assaults, not those who are victim to it.
I hope that “The Silence Breakers” being named as Person(s) of the year will be the turning point for victims of sexul assault. I hope this leads to a better future to those who have suffered. Looking forward, I think it’s time to think about #WhatsNext for our #MeToo victims.
Featured image via Time’s Up Now on Instagram
