Surya Sushil Sarwan Week 8

#MeToo is a Movement, not a Moment

Ted talk by Tarana Burke

Tarana Burke, the creator of the #MeToo movement, is feeling, in her words, numb. But Burke explains that having worried about what to bring to TED, when she kept “falling short of finding the heart” to write a rallying speech, she decided to just come clean about the state she’s in now, a little more than a year since #MeToo became a viral hashtag and the world discovered her already decade-old campaign to support survivors of sexual abuse.

In that time, she has become a symbol and a leader, and she has witnessed the Me Too movement she created move forward and back, come under attack, and be warped by other people’s ideologies. Many around the world have expressed fatigue watching, from the sidelines, as progressive ideals are trampled while powerful people are protected. Her fatigue comes from living through the same experiences, “soldiering through the Supreme Court nomination process and attacks from the White House, gross mischaracterizations, internet trolls and the rallies and marches and heart-wrenching testimonies,” she explains. “Numbness is not always the absence of feeling,” she clarifies, “Sometimes it’s an accumulation of feelings.”

Ultimately, Burke said, the Me Too movement aims to "dismantle the building blocks of sexual violence: power and privilege." In order to do that, however, Burke said that the movement must consist of empathy for and between survivors. Survivors of sexual violence shouldn’t have to constantly recount their experiences, Burke told viewers, and they shouldn't be asked to "lean into their trauma." Instead, she said, they should be given the space to create and lean into joy — especially in light of world leaders and media organisations doubting them at every turn.

Burke concluded her TED Talk by urging viewers not to stop fighting sexual violence. She acknowledged that she — like many survivors — is "exhausted" and "numb," but insisted that "we owe future generations a world free of sexual violence." Despite being concerned about the direction #MeToo has taken in recent months, Burke maintained that she believes such a world is possible, and encouraged people to continue educating themselves and their children about power, privilege, and empathy.