BBC Learnings · Section 8

What difference has #MeToo made

In this programme, we'll take a look at the sensitive issue of sexual violence. At the start of the decade,

Level: B2 · 85 sentences

Transcript

  1. In this programme, we'll take a look at the sensitive issue of sexual violence.
  2. At the start of the decade,
  3. no-one knew that the two-word phrase, Me Too,
  4. would go viral or spread quickly and widely on the internet through social media.
  5. But when explosive allegations against Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein made headlines
  6. in 2017, the MeToo hashtag became the focus for a global movement
  7. of women determined to expose the truth about abusive sexual behavior.
  8. Weinstein was found guilty and given a 23-year prison sentence,
  9. but the deeper reasons behind the problem in America and worldwide have not disappeared.
  10. I have a question now about the origin of the MeToo expression.
  11. Although the Me Too message went viral due to public support from famous Hollywood actresses,
  12. the phrase itself was thought up years earlier by a civil rights activist, Tarana Burke.
  13. What year did she first use it?
  14. Was it A, 1996, B, 2006, or C, 2016?
  15. I'll guess B, 2006.
  16. Okay, Georgina, we'll come back to that later.
  17. Now more about Tarana Burke.
  18. Yes, Tarada worked with marginalized women in neglected American communities,
  19. shocking numbers of whom were victims of sexual violence and abuse.
  20. Here she is talking with the BBC World Service's program Hard Talk
  21. about how the Me Too movement continues to speak up for voiceless women and girls.
  22. The beauty, I think, and the magic of Me Too is that it's a unifier in that way.
  23. and it's where survivors find community.
  24. And so definitely the mainstream media kept the focus on the actresses
  25. and Hollywood and that, but at its core,
  26. the women who came forward were really no different than those girls
  27. who I served in the communities 10 years before.
  28. Tarana doesn't call the girls and women who were abused victims.
  29. Instead, she prefers the term survivors,
  30. people who are able to carry on with their life successfully despite very unpleasant experiences, which still affect them.
  31. The Me Too movement went viral
  32. when several famous movie actresses came forward,
  33. offered to give information about sexual harassment.
  34. While these Hollywood actresses were famous celebrities,
  35. most survivors of sexual violence are ordinary women living ordinary lives.
  36. That's why Tarana calls the Me Too movement a unifier,
  37. something that unites and brings people together In this case,
  38. women of different race and social background.
  39. But while the media focused on particular people,
  40. Weinstein and several actresses in the movie industry,
  41. Tarana is clear that the problem is bigger than just individual cases.
  42. Here she is explaining about the wider reasons behind the Me Too movement.
  43. We can talk about Harvey Weinstein ad nauseam,
  44. but we also have to talk about what are the structures
  45. that were in place that allowed a Harvey Weinstein to thrive.
  46. If you're going to talk about Harvey Weinstein's being successful,
  47. then we have to also talk about capitalism, right?
  48. Because it's the love of money and the desire for people to have money and what he represented.
  49. The bottom line is people value those things more than they value
  50. the humanity of the women that he was destroying their lives.
  51. It's about power and it's about privilege.
  52. At the end of the day,
  53. these are the two things that we have to talk about dismantling.
  54. According to Tarana, the behavior of abusers like Weinstein was not challenged or questioned because of their privilege,
  55. power and advantage held by a small group of people,
  56. usually because of their high social position or because they are rich.
  57. So rather than focusing on individual cases,
  58. it's male dominated social structures like privilege that need dismantling.
  59. breaking up or being stopped from working by gradually reducing its power over a period of time.
  60. Tarana knows the problem won't disappear overnight.
  61. But she believes the MeToo movement has opened up a space
  62. to talk about sexual violence in a new way and set out a pathway forward.
  63. Let's go back to the quiz question.
  64. I asked you what year the two-word expression MeToo was used.
  65. Was it A, 1996, B, 2006, or C, 2016?
  66. And you said?
  67. Yes, I said it was B, 2006.
  68. Well done, Georgina.
  69. You are absolutely right.
  70. Today, we've been talking about the hashtag MeToo movement,
  71. which went viral in 2017, meaning it spread quickly on the internet.
  72. The name MeToo was created by Tarana Burke,
  73. an activist who works with sexual abuse survivors.
  74. people who experience abuse but are able to carry on with their lives successfully.
  75. In 2017, many of these survivors came forward,
  76. offered to give information about sexual harassment in Hollywood.
  77. And these actresses were supported by millions of women and men across the world,
  78. making the Me Too movement an important cultural unifier,
  79. something that unites and brings people together.
  80. Now the movement wants to shift the focus away from individual cases And on to social structures of privilege,
  81. power and advantage held by a small group of people,
  82. usually because of their wealth or high social class.
  83. And according to Tarana,
  84. it is these social structures and attitudes which need to be dismantled.
  85. Stop from working by gradually reducing their power over time.