As more and more women are speaking out about their alleged assaults by Jian Ghomeshi, a wave of support has emerged for them on social media.
Almost as soon as the CBC aired its interview Wednesday with an anonymous woman saying Ghomeshi had beaten her, people started tweeting using the hashtag #ibelieveher. Shortly after, when the Toronto Star published its story about actress Lucy DeCoutere making detailed allegations and including new anonymous accounts from other women, #ibelievelucy and #ibelievethem emerged.
While it may seem like a small sentiment, "activist" hashtags can serve an important purpose: to show your support for others, or as seen with #YesAllWomen, which flooded the Internet after the Elliott Rodger shooting, to demonstrate there are many others who have shared in these often devastating experiences.
One in two women in Canada have been assaulted, according to VDay Toronto. Read that again. One in two. These are numbers that are shocking, and scary, and potentially, numbers that can be changed the more they're shouted out, instead of silenced.
The voices on these hashtags have come from all across Canada, including people who initially supported Ghomeshi, as well as those who have experienced assault in their own lives, but have felt too alone to speak publicly before.
Take a look at some of these powerful tweets:
Almost as soon as the CBC aired its interview Wednesday with an anonymous woman saying Ghomeshi had beaten her, people started tweeting using the hashtag #ibelieveher. Shortly after, when the Toronto Star published its story about actress Lucy DeCoutere making detailed allegations and including new anonymous accounts from other women, #ibelievelucy and #ibelievethem emerged.
While it may seem like a small sentiment, "activist" hashtags can serve an important purpose: to show your support for others, or as seen with #YesAllWomen, which flooded the Internet after the Elliott Rodger shooting, to demonstrate there are many others who have shared in these often devastating experiences.
One in two women in Canada have been assaulted, according to VDay Toronto. Read that again. One in two. These are numbers that are shocking, and scary, and potentially, numbers that can be changed the more they're shouted out, instead of silenced.
The voices on these hashtags have come from all across Canada, including people who initially supported Ghomeshi, as well as those who have experienced assault in their own lives, but have felt too alone to speak publicly before.
Take a look at some of these powerful tweets: