Confused by the words “Me Too” on your social media feeds today? The two simple words are part of a worldwide trend to raise awareness about the scope of the problem of sexual harassment and assault.
Women who have been harassed or assaulted are tweeting the two words to try to show how widespread such abuse really is.
Actor Alyssa Milano launched the trend Sunday afternoon, that a friend had suggested that women who had been assaulted or harassed write the words as their status, to highlight the "magnitude of the problem."
Milano’s call came as the scope of allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been coming to light.
More than 40 women have come forward in the last two weeks, to say they were harassed or assaulted by the now-fired studio exec, with many of the women claiming they stayed quiet because they didn’t expect anyone to believe them.
One of the first to come forward was , who starred in the TV series “Charmed” with Milano.
Within hours of Milano’s tweet, more than 34,000 women -- and several men -- had replied to the tweet. The hashtag #MeToo had become a worldwide top trend on Twitter, with thousands of others posting the same message on Facebook and Instagram as well.
Actors Anna Paquin, Debra Messing and Laura Dreyfuss were among the first high-profile actors to reply with a “Me Too” of their own.
Actor Javier Muñoz, best known for his role in the Broadway musical “Hamilton”, wrote: “Me too. I don’t know if means anything coming from a gay man but it’s happened. Multiple times.”
If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano)
— xoxo, Gaga (@ladygaga)
— Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky)
Me too. I don’t know if means anything coming from a gay man but it’s happened. Multiple times.
— Javier Muñoz (@JMunozActor)
— Najwa Zebian (@najwazebian)
And I was blamed for it.
I was told not to talk about it.
I was told that it wasn't that bad.
I was told to get over it.
To all the women sharing stories of sexual assault and sexual harassment, thank you for your bravery to speak up. You are not alone.
— Women's March (@womensmarch)