Joyce Fegan: MeToo moves up a gear

For too long, survivors of sexual violence have been trained to deny that crimes were even committed against them, says Joyce Fegan

Workers supporting the MeToo movement in Seoul, South Korea, in 2018. Act Too is a ‘blockchain’ platform, meaning every action, be that donating, volunteering, educating, or mobilising voters, is recorded and registered. Picture: Ahn Young-joon/AP

There is a reason men like Donald Trump get away with "grabbing" women "by the pussy". It’s because we are all complicit. Our complicity runs right from the schoolyard to the courtroom, and into every crack and corner between. Sexual assault and sexual violence were and are so normalised in our society that even crimes go unnamed.

As Jessica Valenti's book title states: He's a stud and she's a slut. Our culture's myths prevail to protect the perpetrator of sexual violence and isolate, condemn, and shame the victims of it. But time's up, both here and abroad.