(From left to right: Tarana Burke, Natalie Portman, Michelle Williams, Ai-jen Poo, America Ferrera, Jessica Chastain, Saru Jayaraman, Amy Poehler, Meryl Streep and Kerry Washington wear black at the 75th Golden Globes Awards in support of the TIME’S UP Movement
“No more silence. No more waiting. No more tolerance for discrimination, harassment or abuse.”
Timesupnow.com develops this message throughout the Letter of Solidarity that has received an ample amount of signatures since its publication Jan 1.
TIME’S UP is a new movement that was created in the aftermath of recent sexual abuse allegations that were brought forward by a significant number of women.
This has been evident across the board in both low wage and higher wage occupations.
In addition, a legal defense fund and its bill linked with the TIME’S UP initiative.
The fund is designed to assist women solely dealing with discrimination, assault, and harassment.
If the legal defense fund bill were passed, the offender would not walk away without retribution in the legal system.
Each year, a high quantity of sexual assault cases is dismissed due to negligence.
Fortunately, the testimony of sexual assault victim I’yhanna Whittaker, a first-year psychology student, was heard.
“I was sexually assaulted by an older man in my hometown church. Unfortunately, I ended up finding out that most of the women in my family had been sexually assaulted too,” said Whittaker.
With this type of information in mind, 300 women in Hollywood published the letter and began the social media awareness of the initiative.
After doing so, these female celebrities allowed the women that they inspire to help move the initiative forward.
Jasmine Williams, a fourth-year history student at Florida A&M, shared her view on which celebrity inspired her to join the movement.
“There have been two women in my family that have been raped and nothing was really done about it. So, when Tracy Ellis Ross, one of the celebrities I identify with the most, showed her support for the initiative, It makes me feel like something is actually going to be done from now on and this does more than stating the issue in general,” said Williams.
There have even been men like Mell Riley III, a third-year engineering student, to understand and offer solutions for the TIME’S UP initiative.
“I think the movement is necessary because there are bad men out there. Like some solutions could be separating men and women in the workforce or making sexual offenders, even first-time offenders, in the workplace should be forced to work online from then on so they can’t be around women ever again,” said Riley.
Thus far, the movement has spawned more positive feedback than negative and support, like the ones voiced above, may be only the beginning.