Harassment survivors tell abusers: ‘Time’s Up’
Time’s Up Now encourages men and women to speak up against harassment in an effort to bring equality to the workplace.
May 7, 2018
Through moving speeches and a grassroots movement, the Time’s Up Movement has taken the world by storm and gained millions of supporters, hoping to end sexual harassment.
The Time’s Up movement has helped millions of men and women across the world share their stories of sexual harassment and have found that millions of others share similar stories.
On Nov. 10, an open letter by the Nation Farmworker Women’s Alliance was published. The article covered the stories of 700,000 female farm workers who exposed the sexual misconduct they faced on a daily basis in the workplace. They wrote this in solidarity with the dozens of actors and actresses who revealed they were sexually harassed by those of a higher position in the workplace.
Once the powerful letter caught the eyes of the general public, dozens of actors and actresses started flooding social media in response and thus, the Time’s-Up movement was born. Big names in Hollywood helped boost the movement into the public’s eye during the 2018 Golden Globes.
Actresses like Eva Longoria, Reese Witherspoon and Viola Davis were some of the advocates of the movement that night, encouraging all people to join, and promote the movement even further. Other big moments where the movement gained publicity include The 2018 Grammy Awards, America Ferrera and NFWA president Monica Ramirez on NBC’s “Today,” and the world-.wide Women’s March.
Not only has the Time’s-Up movement received a large number of women supporters, but men have also stepped in to tackle the situation head on. Male actors, screenwriters, singers, and producers have stepped up and told their own stories of sexual harassment.
Mark Ruffalo, Nick Jonas, Khalid, and Timothée Chalamet are some of the movement’s male activists, constantly promoting the movement to end sexual harassment. Encouraging men to be open about their experiences is important to the movement, but in some places, men do not have that type of environment and are restricted by common gender roles.
In a school full of boys, sometimes being open is not commonly practiced, but it is still encouraged.
Counselor Vanessa Martinez encourages male empowerment by saying these words directed to all Riordan students: “Whenever you have a student who comes from an all-boy school where it might not seem ‘ok’ to admit to that, that you had that taken away from you (power), so that’s what I think my role is, and that’s what Time’s Up is about.”
Science teacher Julia Balistreri said, “The environment at Riordan is really supportive. There is no bad mouthing between the teachers and they’ll always be there to help classroom managing issues or pretty much anything else.”
Comedian and ex-NFL player Terry Crews opened up in November about being allegedly sexually assaulted in 2016. With his openness, the actor sparked a conversation on social media about male sexual harassment survivors and the black community.
Roshan Thomas ’19 said, “I truly believe it is bad that people think they have the right to sexually harass other people in a professional setting.” He added, “I respect those people who have decided to speak out against it because they need to be that voice for the people who are in silence and are afraid.”
