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As thousands of women share stories of sexual harassment online using the #MeToo hashtag, hundreds of men are vowing to help using a hashtag of their own.
The #HowIWillChange hashtag kicked off last night, with Sydney-based writer Benjamin Law calling for men to share how they will help tackle the culture of sexual harassment.
"Guys, it's our turn," he wrote on Twitter.
"After yesterday's endless #MeToo stories of women being abused, assaulted and harassed, today we say #HowIWillChange."
#MeToo started over the weekend and quickly saw thousands of women share personal stories about sexual harassment or assault.
But as it gained traction, some questioned the movement for placing the onus of spreading awareness on victims and called for a different hashtag for perpetrators to take responsibility.
"[It] struck me yesterday that if every woman we know has experienced it, then every man we know has done something or covered for his mate," Law said.
So far more than 500 posts using the responding #HowIWillChange hashtag have been made, with promises ranging from "listen more; talk less" to "showing my three grandsons how to honour and respect women".
But #HowIWillChange has detractors too, with some Twitter users questioning why men who have not personally assaulted anyone need to change in the first place.
"If you haven't harassed anyone, what exactly are you feeling guilt for? Enough with these stupid shame games already," one user said.
The widespread discussion about sexual harassment comes after New York Times and New Yorker investigations exposed film producer Harvey Weinstein's alleged history of sexual misconduct.
Many of the stories involved Weinstein inviting young actresses into his hotel room to discuss business, then requesting a massage or initiating sexual behaviour.
The revelations led to other women coming forward with similar stories.
"If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too' as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem," one of the first posts read.
In Australia nearly one in five complaints made to the Australian Human Rights Commission relate to sexual harassment, and the vast majority of reported incidents happened in the workplace.
A landmark survey by the commission released earlier this year found more than half of university students were sexually harassed on at least one occasion last year.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, arts-and-entertainment, film-movies, social-media, internet-culture, australia, united-states
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