Feminist of Reading Culture - Warrior Women - Spring 2023: Tarana Burke

Photo Source: 19thnews.org

For decades before 2017, sexual assault victims silently struggled, afraid of the intense ridicule of victim blaming. Since 1998, roughly 18 million American women have been victims of rape or assault (RAINN, 2022). With so many reported victims, one would think that  there were many resources and well-funded public groups for them. Unfortunately, talking about rape and sexual violence was considered taboo. Many people have worked to make aid for victims normalized, but found little support from the public. That was until Tarana Burke. Burke saw through the injustices and took an outward stand. Coining the phrase “Me too” in 2006, Burke headed a movement with incredible force. There would now be a new kind of conversation, given the success and outreach of the “MeToo” movement. 

Tarana Burke is an American social activist from The Bronx, NY. Burke spent her early years working as a youth worker, helping children from unsafe situations to transition to protected environments. She has always wanted to help those in situations that can’t get the help they need alone. Burke attended Alabama State University to further expand her reach in activism (Alexander K. L. 2020). In the 80’s, Tarana joined groups that helped young black girls fight back against the injustices they had faced, such as racial discriminations and how racism affected every aspect of their lives. She later went on to executive positions within these organizations, allowing her to flourish in an unprecedented public movement. 

The “Me Too” movement took the internet by storm in 2017, but let’s look at the beginning. In 2006, Burke was working as a youth counselor in New York. She was uncomfortably used to the heartbreaking stories of the children she worked with, but one child stuck out the most. There was a young girl by the name of Heaven that had taken a liking to Tarana. Eventually, Heaven confided in Tarana and talked about her story. As described by Burke, Heaven was just like her name. She was sweet, shy girl who kept to herself. The day Heaven asked to speak with Tarana, she began to tell a story that hit so close to Burke’s own traumas, that she had turned her away to speak with a different counselor. Heaven never ended up telling her story to the other workers, and all Tarana could think was how difficult it is to talk about sexual assault. The young girl had started expressing horrible actions of her step-dad, and due to the nature of the story, she couldn’t endure listening to a young black girl go through same experience. This, however, sparked a very simple but empowering phrase: Me too (Burke, T. 2020).

Photo Source: Gustavus Adolphus College

The “Me Too” movement is meant to bring power back to survivors of sexual assault, and to stand up against victim blaming. Flashing forward to 2017, many women in Hollywood were under scrutiny following speaking out against their sexual abuse in Hollywood. (Chicago, Tribune, 2021) Burke saw all of the backlash online from thousands of people discrediting these real stories by claiming that they were attention seeking, or trying to “climb a social ladder”. Taking matters into her own hands, Burke “quote tweeted” several actresses’ stories with the simple phrase “#MeToo” (Burke, T. 2022). Within hours, there were millions of tweets under the hashtag MeToo. A simple action of responding on a social media site created a new conversation of rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse for survivors. 

Burke has emphasized before, not just white, cisgendered, women are assaulted. At this time, it was more accepted for white actresses to speak out with their stories. There is no cookie cutter victim, as Burke tends to call attention to. Black women, transgendered women, men, and anyone else is capable of being assaulted, which was the basis of her platform. Tarana advocates for all survivors, those who don’t speak out, those who do, and everyone in between. She wanted to create a place that was safe and comfortable for survivor’s to begin their healing process. 

Her hashtag on Twitter led to the creation of an organization of the same name. The me too. organization is an online platform that links survivors to beneficial resources and guidance. There are things such as the “Survivor’s Sanctuary ”. The Survivor’s Sanctuary is a self-guided meditation sessions provided by trained MeToo. professionals. These sessions are meant for introspection and finding inner peace. These resources and more can be found at metoomvmnt.org. 

Tarana Burke is a trailblazer in feminism. She continues to work to support victims, and fights to get legislative attention while gaining the help of many powerful women along the way. 

Photo Source: Variety.com

Resources:

Alexander, K. L. (2020). Biography: Tarana Burke. National Women’s History Museum. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/tarana-burke

Burke, T. (2022). Unbound: My story of liberation and the birth of the Me Too Movement. Flatiron Books.

Burke, T. (2020, July 16). Get to know us: History & inception. me too. Movement. Retrieved February 4, 2023, from https://metoomvmt.org/get-to-know-us/history-inception/ 

Chicago Tribune. (2021, February 4). #MeToo: A timeline of events. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 4, 2023, from https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-me-too-timeline-20171208-htmlstory.html

RAINN. (2022). Victims of sexual violence: Statistics. RAINN. Retrieved February 4, 2023, from https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence