Maybe He Just Likes You

In 2017, the #MeToo movement swept across social media as a response to sexual assault allegations made against Hollywood director Harvey Weinstein. Although the hashtag was originally used in 2006 by American activist Tarana Burke, it regained popularity and became a viral phenomenon when the women Weinstein assaulted took to Twitter to share their stories. The purpose of the hashtag was to allow survivors of sexual assault to find community with one another and share their stories free of judgment, and over time, the hashtag came to represent the collective experiences of all survivors of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault.

An alarming trend emerged as the #MeToo movement spread in popularity and more survivors shared their stories. In September 2017, over 3,000 British women were polled and asked if they had ever experienced sexual harassment. According to the YouGov survey published on Statista.com, over 50% of respondents aged 18-24 reported experiencing some level of sexual harassment in the last five years, which would make some of them as young as 13-19 years old when the harassment took place. While these numbers might sound shocking, numerous studies have confirmed this trend of higher rates of harassment among young teenage girls. According to the American Association of University Women, public schools grossly underreport sexual harassment.