What remains of the #MeToo movement, five years after its appearance in the United States? “It’s a big question!“, smiles Sophie Sandberg, a New Yorker who, in 2017, had just founded “Cat Calls” against street harassment. This activist lived in the foreground the deluge of testimonies of women, in reaction to the revelations about the American producer Harvey Weinstein.
At the time, the young woman’s association took off, driven by the voices of women on social networks. “For me, it was great, it drew attention to my action. But this great awareness has not been accompanied by attention to the deeper problem“, sorry Sophie Sandberg. The conclusion is, according to her, the same:We still have so many reports of harassment, and so many people deal with it on a daily basis…“
She adds that the movement will still have brought down the untouchable Harvey Weinstein. But if the former all-powerful American film producer is now in prison, he has appealed. The #MeToo hashtag has touched other media figures, such as former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, forced to resign, or the R’n’B star R.Kelly, who is serving 30 years in prison.
Scandals that caused a stir, but on the merits, then, have things progressed? Sophie Sandberg then confesses “frustrated”.
“There were consequences for people in power, but that won’t stop the abuser around the corner from harassing a young girl.”
Sophie Sandberg, feminist activist in New YorkFrance Info
“We didn’t go far enough.” continues Sophie Sandberg, who therefore believes that there is still a long way to go: “We need to focus on those who stayed out of that wave, what didn’t work, and go from there.” believes the young woman, who adds that the picture is not completely black.
Because the legacy of #MeToo can also be verified in the legislative framework of 22 States. Laws have been passed there, aimed, for example, at making workplaces safer. Some have extended the statute of limitations for sexual harassment claims, others now ban non-disclosure agreements for financial settlements with victims. Companies have also introduced stricter sexual harassment policies and new training.
At the same time, the movement caused a part of the population to react, sometimes violently, attached to a patriarchal vision of society. “Many men were upset to see the rules change. They say that the movement, that feminism has gone too far. And Donald Trump is just one example of that.“, describe Sophie Sandberg.
More recently, some consider the #MeToo wave even dead after the highly publicized defamation lawsuit between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard last spring. Social networks and then the jury then decided in favor of the star of Pirates of the Caribbeans. Sophie Sandberg continues to write with chalk on the asphalt of New York, the “Catcalls“, these obscenities that she hears in the street. Her movement has nearly a thousand activists, in fifty countries.
#MeToo: five years later, the testimony of Sophie Sandberg, founder of “Cat Calls”
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