00:00Women have flooded social media with the hashtag MeToo to share their personal stories of sexual harassment and assault.
00:11Now joining me in the studio to discuss it are Christina Coleman, Essence.com's news and culture editor.
00:16And via Skype is Essence now viewer and blogger for Really Natalie TV, Natalie Jaju.
00:22Welcome ladies.
00:23Thank you for having us.
00:24Alright, Christina, let's start with you.
00:25What were your thoughts when you found out about the hashtag campaign MeToo and how effective do you think it is?
00:30Well, there are a few things I thought.
00:32The first is just how pervasive sexual assault, harassment and abuse still is in our community and our society as a whole.
00:39I mean, we have a president who was accused of sexual assault.
00:43So that just goes to show you how accepted this behavior is.
00:47My other thought was that women are still holding the torch.
00:50We don't see a large mobilization of men leading this charge to say, hey, I've made a woman feel uncomfortable or I've sexually assaulted someone before or hey, other men, let's step up and protect women.
01:01This is still largely being led by women who are saying and who are being brave enough to come forward about their truth and say, hey, I have been sexual assault.
01:07And still deal with the rape culture and this is a society that, you know, allows this to happen and that blames the victim.
01:16The last part of it for me was that this hashtag MeToo really represented a specific type of woman.
01:23We've seen hashtags like this happen before for black women.
01:26We have Feminista Jones, you okay sis?
01:28We have Steen Fox's What I Wore, which highlighted what she was wearing when she was sexually assaulted.
01:34And those were ultimately erased when MeToo came to be.
01:38And it just goes to show you how this all stemmed from Harvey Weinstein and the sexual assault that he was alleged on him by Rose McGowan.
01:46Yeah.
01:47Black women or women of color have come forward consistently about sexual assault.
01:51And haven't received the same level of support.
01:52They have not received the same level of support.
01:53There's so much to unpack here, but I want to start with the first point that you made about women carrying the torch.
01:57In other tweets and other information that we saw online, people were almost blaming the women for speaking out or saying that they should have, as Don and Karen said, they have to dress modestly.
02:07Or some people are saying, why did they even go up to the hotel room?
02:09Why do you think our society is still that way that they put, why is the onus on the victim and not on the person who's doing the actual assault?
02:16Well, it's hard to say because rape culture and this idea that women are to blame is archaic.
02:22It literally is in the foundation of like our country and our world, really, where men for so long have blamed women for their own sexual desires and wants and, you know, whatever that thing is.
02:35They can't control them on their own.
02:36Right.
02:36Like they can't control it on their own.
02:38So instead, women are expected to be responsible for the men's behavior.
02:43And that has, you know, that has been the case from the beginning.
02:47So what you see is that when a woman comes forward and says, hey, I was sexually assaulted from police officers, from other women, from men, the response is usually, what were you wearing?
02:57Why did you go there?
02:58What did you do to deserve it?
02:59What did you do to deserve it?
03:00Have you ever faced sexual harassment at work?
03:02And how did you report it?
03:04How did you deal with it?
03:04Um, well, I work in a predominantly male driven industry and, um, I'm a very visible face.
03:14So, um, I just had a baby.
03:17So I put on some weight.
03:18Unfortunately, I've gotten comments like, oh, you should wear clothes that are more fitted and show off your shape.
03:24And this would come from men.
03:26And they felt comfortable enough to express this.
03:29This made me feel uncomfortable because I'm not one to display my figure.
03:34And even if I did, no one should ever feel comfortable enough, especially from the opposite sex, to voice that.
03:40So it's something that I have not reported only because I don't, I wouldn't want to bring more attention to the situation.
03:46And there are a number of men at my workplace.
03:49So to avoid and deflect the attention, I just kind of try to cope with it as best I can.
03:55But it's something that happens almost on a daily basis to me.
03:59So we asked earlier, have you ever been sexually harassed or assaulted at work?
04:02Vote 8 for yes, B for no.
04:04More stories coming in from viewers who say that they have, unfortunately.
04:07Shalinda Peterson says, A, I ended up slapping him and had to transfer.
04:11Cali Girl Burner says, I was a kid and a family friend assaulted me.
04:14I didn't tell anyone for 25 plus years because our families were best friends.
04:18Tanya McGuire says, I was fired for being sexually harassed at work.
04:21He was buddies with the boss.
04:23Renee Doughton shared her unfortunate story on Facebook.
04:26She says, I'm 66 and the main reason I never went into the entertainment industry.
04:30The photographer wanted me to sign a release.
04:32I wouldn't.
04:32He raped me and proceeded to say, this is how you'll be able to get through if you want to be successful in this industry.
04:38Renee, we're so sorry that happened to you.
04:39A lot of unfortunate stories being shared now on our comment section.
04:43All show long, we've been asking you in our viewer poll, have you ever been sexually harassed at work?
04:48And here's how you voted.
04:49Let's see these results.
04:51Okay, wow, 91% of people say yes, they've been sexually harassed at work and 9% so those numbers are really disheartening.
05:00Like it just does not make sense how 91% of people say it has happened to them in the workplace.
05:05And I hope the culture starts to change.
05:07There's got to be some change that happens.
