THE FUTURE OF ME TOO

Tarana Burke talks about how to bring a movement forward

BY SANDRA PANDEVSKI

Back in 2006, Tarana Burke coined the term ‘Me Too’ to support and empower young black women who have survived sexual violence. She herself was raped as a child and has fought abuse her entire adult life. When the movement went viral on social media with the #MeToo hashtag, the hitherto relatively unknown Tarana

Burke became the subject of international attention. Faktum was one of the first newspapers to meet with her in New York in the fall of 2017. “It’s been three years since we saw each other, but it feels like 10 because so much has happened!” Tarana Burke exclaims when I reach her on a video call one day in November 2020. Since we first met, Burke has graced prestigious magazines and been interviewed in major newspapers, received awards for her engagement and spoken at a TED talk that has since racked up almost two million views. She has kept growing the movement she started and has also launched the Me Too organisation, whose work supports vulnerable women and increases awareness of the problem of sexual violence and how it can be addressed. The organization’s goal is that we should reach a point at which there will be no further need for the movement to exist.

Since the fall of 2017, structures have been disrupted, cultures of silence have been broken and intense scrutiny has revealed countless acts of misconduct. The public discourse has been transformed, and sexual violence moved into public awareness as an issue that concerns everyone.

“The attention that the movement, myself as an individual as well as others who work with these issues has received has made many things possible,” Burke says. “Just the fact that the media has changed the way they report on sexual violence is significant. I fought for it for many years, but nothing happened. Now the word ‘survivors’ is used instead of ‘victims’, and sexual violence is seen as a real problem. It’s a big win.”

Given the fact that media attention has diminished since the 2017 explosion of the Me Too movement, it has become important for Burke to shift her focus.

“The hashtag is not the movement; it is a tool to strengthen the movement,” she explains. “It acts as a unifying force and a conversation starter. It gave us a common language and a sense of community. But it does not do the work.”

Burke wants to see political changes and concrete proposals on how to help survivors and stop abuse. The Survivors’ Agenda Initiative is a collective of various organisations working tirelessly to bring the issue of sexual violence into the political agenda. Burke is one of its co-founders.

“We want politicians to listen and give us answers — just as they do for industrial workers and other groups,” Burke explains. Recently, Burke and Me Too embarked on a project to unify the Me Too movement around the world.

“We have contact with Me Too in India, Mexico, Iran, Sweden, South Africa, Ghana and Australia,” she tells me. “Everywhere, there are people who champion the work against sexual violence. We want to start a global movement.”

One step in this direction is the Act Too application, which is a tool that will engage people to make a real difference. Burke shows me the Act Too app on her mobile phone and holds it up to her computer screen to explain how it works. You can select different subject areas within the app; everything from grooming and violence to gender equality and consent. You then fill in details about how you want to get involved — it can be through donations, training or organising an event. Personal interests count as much as where one is based. When everything is filled in, the app will provide a list of suggestions, recommendations for further reading on the top or link to a volunteer job.

In addition to taking part in global initiatives and implementing innovative technology, the focus is on the more healing aspects of the work that take place within communities. Me Too trains people to become so-called “community healers” so that they can hold group conversations with those who have experienced trauma.

During our interview, Burke’s mobile rings almost constantly, but she does not look away from her computer screen screen. When she finally answers it, she discovers that she has missed another meeting and has to dash. We make plans to have a follow-up chat for two days later.

It is a Friday morning when we catch up with each other again online, and Burke starts by apologizing for what happened the last time. On the day that we are speaking, it is now just over a week since Joe Biden was elected President of the United States. One fact that cannot be shied away from is that the main candidates were two white men who have both previously been accused of sexual assault. Burke was criticized during the campaign for being vague in her tweets about the accusations against Joe Biden. That she chose to support the vulnerable woman instead of entering the debate was a strategic move. The most important thing at that time was to not to give Trump the victory.

“We’ve all got PTSD,” Burke sighs. “It has been traumatic to have such an incompetent government. By that I mean the entire administration, not just the president. But with each passing day, I feel more relieved. Just the thought of having Kamala Harris and Joe Biden in the White House feels reassuring.”

The fact that the vice president is both a woman and Black will not mean much to Burke — not until it leads to actual change. She believes that it is important to have representation in the White House, and that the government should reflect the country’s population, but feels that watching Kamala Harris on TV may make little difference to young Black girls.

“When they go out on the streets, they meet a world that does not support them,” Burke tells me, as she explains her sentiments. “The vice president must show that she wants to improve conditions for Black people. In four years, I do not want to say: ‘It was nice to look at a Black woman who just sat on her chair, but who did nothing.’”

The truth is that young Black women are particularly vulnerable in the United States. According to a study by Black Women’s Blueprint in 2011, 60 percent of the country’s Black minors have been sexually abused. When the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement blossomed in 2020, Burke spent a lot of time trying to explain that everything is connected.

“Like Me Too, BLM is closely linked to many other societal problems. It is not possible to talk about BLM without talking about sexual violence; it is not possible to talk about police brutality and the abuse of power without talking about BLM,” she says.

Before Me Too, Burke was, she says, an “ordinary citizen” with her address listed in the phone directory. She did not have to worry about anyone wanting to do her harm. But now that she has landed in the spotlight, a lot has changed. Cryptic messages and threats became common. She got scared and moved to an apartment with a doorman and other security measures in place.

It is mainly Trump supporters who are against Burke’s work; they think she is against white men. On the other hand, Black men say that she advocates for a movement that is against them. “I just feel: You should talk to each other!” she says. “Sexual violence spans a spectrum — from verbal attacks to rape. The guy who makes sexist jokes at work should not be held accountable in the same way as a rapist like Harvey Weinstein. “Of course, none of these behaviours are okay, but they should not get the same sentence in the media,” she clarifies. “I think men boycott Me Too because they are afraid of being hung out.

“Not all men” is a phrase that has become common in the years since Me Too was catapulted into public awareness. Burke agrees, but she thinks that it is a misunderstanding that Me Too is viewed as being a women’s movement. Women have driven the movement because they are more vulnerable to sexual abuse — but the message concerns everyone.

“That men are only included as perpetrators is a problem. This is a flaw in the movement,” she reflects. “Me Too should be a safe place for men too. It is a myth that if men only changed their behaviours, we would all be spared. It is the universal patriarchy that perpetuates sexism. A man laughing at a rape joke is as counterproductive as a woman calling another woman a whore. It’s all about patriarchal structures and it’s not just men who have to get better — everyone has to.

“It has become a war about which side you’re on, which feels completely wrong,” she says. “Because there should be no opposition to anyone who is against sexual violence.”

When we saw each other three years ago, Burke was surprised by all the attention she and her movement were receiving and certainly could not have foreseen the future that awaited her. Today her situation is different: she is more experienced, more media savvy. But she is still the same person with the bright red lipstick and passionate commitment to the causes she cares about. We conclude our conversation by reflecting on the fact that it will soon be 2021 and that it is a time of year when many people make resolutions for the year to come. Burke tells me that she would like to ring in the New Year with her new fiancé, but there will be no New Year’s resolutions.

“I’m not going to do that this year. We did it last year, and we know what happened — 2020 tried to destroy us all!” she concludes. “My only pledge for 2021 is to live every day one day at a time.”

Translated from Swedish by G.S.Q. Courtesy of Faktum / INSP.ngo