EPISODE 109 FEATURES TARANA BURKE
This week’s podcast interview was recorded in Australia, when Tarana Burke came to Sydney, to accept the Sydney Peace Prize on behalf of Me Too. It airs as Harvey Weinstein is convicted of committing a criminal sex act in the first degree involving one woman and rape in the third degree involving another.
“Donald Trump did not invent sexism and misogyny or rape culture or any of those things,” Tarana told the Sydney Peace Prize. “Neither did [US supreme court judge] Brett Kavanaugh. They are both extreme, really gross examples of what happens when there’s an unchecked accumulation of power. But previously with both men the behaviour wasn’t even called out. We could not identify it because nobody talked about it. People wouldn’t join those who wanted to fight.”
While acknowledging that “we have a lot of work to do and a long way to go”, she said, “what #MeToo has done is sort of blow up an old paradigm and make space for this new one that is more inclusive, and more expansive. Now we can raise our voices, we can galvanise, and that’s a phenomenal leap from where we were 30 years ago. If it’s possible to galvanise people starting with a hashtag, to get them to stand up and raise their voices and be counted and be a part of this global community, then so much more is possible.”
Find the Me Too website here.
NOTES
The 2018 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE was awarded jointly with one half to Denis Mukwege "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict" and with one half to Nadia Murad "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict."
The 2019 SYDNEY PEACE PRIZE Jury chose the Me Too movement from over 200 nominations from the community. Previous winners include economist Joseph Stiglitz, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky and Black Lives Matter.
YES SHE SLAYS was the name of Tarana’s fashion blog. Oh hello long boots! Whitney Moreau is the name of the designer who dressed Tarana for her TED Talk.
HOW ME TOO BEGAN ‘In 1997, Tarana Burke sat across from a 13-year-old girl who had been sexually abused. The young girl was explaining her experience, and it left Ms. Burke speechless. That moment is where the Me Too campaign was born. “I didn’t have a response or a way to help her in that moment, and I couldn’t even say ‘me too,’ ” Ms. Burke said. “It really bothered me, and it sat in my spirit for a long time,” she added.
Ten years after that conversation, Ms. Burke created Just Be Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps victims of sexual harassment and assault. She sought out the resources that she had not found readily available to her 10 years before and committed herself to being there for people who had been abused. And she gave her movement a name: Me Too. Via New York Times’
THE HASHTAG The #metoo hashtag was a moment, sparked in when the actor Alyssa Milano used it on Twitter in October 2017 in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations. That tweet went viral. More than 19 million people around the world have since used the hashtag to share their stories of sexual harassment, abuse and violence.
THE MOVEMENT But Me Too is a about more than social media. Me Too is a movement, founded by Tarana in 2006 to help survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black women and girls, and other young women of colour from low wealth communities, find pathways to healing.
Tarana Burke with Alyssa Milano
TIME’S UP Fashion can be a distraction. It can be used as subtle way to keep women from speaking out - e.g. “Who are you wearing?” on red carpet - instead of: “Tell us about your work.” But at the GOLDEN GLOBES in 2018, the black dresses were about speaking out.
Find the TIME magazine The Silence Breakers story here.
“SEXUAL VIOLENCE DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE.” - TARANA BURKE
Watch Tarana’s TED Talk below:
“THE MOST POWERFUL MOVEMENTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BUILT AROUND WHAT’S POSSIBLE. TRAUMA HALTS POSSIBILITY; MOVEMENT ACTIVATES IT.”
In her Me Too T-shirt
ANTOINETTE BRAYBROOK is the CEO of Djirra, and a voice of visibility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Multiple oppressions add up. In Australia, 70-90 % of Indigenous women have been subject to family violence.
A 2018 report stated that Indigenous Australians are 3.4 times more likely to be sexually assaulted as non-Indigenous Australians.
MUSIC is by Montaigne, who sang this special acoustic version of “Because I love You” from her album Glorious Heights, just for us.
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Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x