#MeToo Sounds New, But Has Been With Us A Long Time

Carbon-dating may be required to figure out the gestational cycle of #MeToo, an emerging social-media destination for new and old stories of sexual harassment.  The primordial soup of Harvey Weinstein's shadowy life spawned conditions with enough atmospheric pressure to deliver an Internet domain where women from around the world are beginning to feel safe enough to share permutations of personal, professional, and institutionalized abuse. 

On Sunday night actress Alyssa Milano launched the social media group, by tweeting (@Alyssa_Milano) "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write '#Me Too' as a reply to this tweet."  Spontaneous combustion is one way to explain the velocity with which her 3.2 million followers responded to the suggestion.  That hash-tag has morphed into a global support-group,  giving safe haven to life-altering traumas.  The distress symbol, also accessible via Facebook, links some deeply held secrets to a commonality of experiences by women who are not derivatives of one industry, socio-economic class, or ethnicity.