Millions of people have posted about the ‘Me Too’ movement since the weekend.
It's a push to bring awareness and eventually end sexual harassment and assault.
Actress Alyssa Milano is being credited for getting people to talk about it, but the movement started about 10 years ago.
Activist Tarana Burke first pioneered the movement to help young girls of color who survived sexual abuse, and it has blown up to have a bigger impact.
The effects of this social media campaign are being felt in D.C. area
“I remember when I was taking a cab one day back at around 11 p.m. and I got into the taxi and the cab driver turned around and told me that I looked like a slut,” Noor Mir, a sexual assault survivor, said. “He turned around and grabbed my leg.”
Mir moved to the United States from Pakistan about nine years ago and eventually found herself in D.C.
She recalled several times of being sexually harassed or attacked.
Perhaps the worst of all was when Mir said she was sexually assaulted by someone she thought was a friend.
“Often times it is not a stranger. Often times it is somebody you consider to be a close friend and someone who is a part of your life for many years,” Mir explained. “It was hard for me to even identify what was even going on. So, my emotions were confusion. It was kind of disbelief that a friend would do this to me.”
Although the attack was more than a half-dozen years ago, Mir is still hurt by the incident.
“I think the pain that I feel is in the terms of a lost friendship and relationship. I think the pain that I feel is distrust,” she said.
Mir never pressed charges because this was someone she cared about at the time.
Recently, she saw the ‘Me Too’ hashtag trending on social media and thought it had the potential to be powerful.
Then, she saw her accused attacker use the hashtag, too.
Mir: That’s exactly what I saw my perpetrator doing. ‘Me too. I have engaged in behaviors that are harmful to women.’
Reporter: Did you have a problem with that?
Mir: I had very much a problem with the fact that someone who can’t own up to the fact that someone who assaulted me had the gull and the space to publicly say that they’re sorry for any behaviors that they’ve done, but not privately take any responsibility for something that happened six years ago.
Mir told WUSA9 that she has come in contact with women who were empowered by the movement and others who felt re-victimized by their attackers posting about this online.
