#MeToo March on Hollywood Boulevard Against Sexual Assault
November 14, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
from a reader
Sunday morning, Hollywood Boulevard, saw a unique and welcome sight: hundreds of people, mainly but not only women, marching in a #MeToo solidarity march which joined with a “Take Back the Workplace” march. There were a diverse range of people and organizations there in a defiant spirit: “we’ve had enough!”
This was exposing sexual assault in the workplace, with a large representation from the Hollywood industry and against sexual assault and violence against women everywhere.
When asked what brought them out into the streets, most women told their own stories of sexual assault: “I was raped when I was a teenager,” “I’ve been sexually assaulted too,” “I just can’t take it any more.”
The march was made up of several prominent actors, people in the film industry, in addition to high school students, long time activists, and people who were marching for the first time. Many women carried signs testifying to their experiences of sexual assault: “I was 7 #MeToo” and “Me Too. You know who you are.” A group of high school students carried a powerful trio of signs: “Slut is attacking women for their right to say yes,” “Friend zone is attacking women for their right to say no,” “Bitch is attacking women for their right to call you on it.” Another woman had cut-out felt hands on all the parts of her body she’d been grabbed or assaulted “Josh, actor, 1993,” “Larry, director of production, 2015” and more. A man held a sign, “I’m here for my mother and stepmother #ThemToo.”
One woman told me she’d been silent about it her whole life, but now feels like it’s ok to speak out, that she’s not alone. One of the mothers of the high school students with the trio of signs said they really worked on them, and discussed together what they wanted to say. Several people commented on the sexual predator in the White House and how deeply embedded patriarchy is in this society.
There was anger, energy and togetherness. Significantly, a group of women farmworkers from Alianza Nacional de Campesinas read from their open letter of support to women in Hollywood, connecting their experience of sexual assault by men who hold control over your jobs and lives.
Like a breath of fresh air, there was defiance. In one conversation, a woman told me about how hard it’s been to see how many women are impacted—just the sheer magnitude is staggering. She started to talk about how many women have been “made victims” and then stopped herself. “No” she said, “that gives them too much power. This won’t break us.”
There were different answers about where this is all coming from, with some people putting forward the need for a change in policy and others talking about the need to change the culture. People were open to learning more about revolution and everyone wanted to connect it up to the struggle to drive out this regime. There was a visceral anger for Trump.
The Revolution Club, Los Angeles led people in chants and had all kinds of discussion with people, distributing Revolution newspaper, palm cards for Bob Avakian’s new talk, and materials about Refuse Fascism.
As I was leaving the rally, I saw a woman who had a sign pinned to her baby’s carrier: “Hopefully #MeNever”
That’s on all of us to make real.
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