By now, you've seen the hashtag, read the reporting, and likely heard personal stories about Me Too. But what has the movement looked like on a global scale since it started seven months ago? Today, Google is mapping the movement with Me Too Rising, an interactive visualization of search trends surrounding #MeToo, created in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Along the bottom of the site is a timeline that begins in early October, when The New York Times and The New Yorker published their first explosive, and now, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigations into Harvey Weinstein's decades of sexual harassment. As you move your cursor along that horizontal axis, the dates advance, until you reach the present day at the far right. Simultaneously, cities on the spinning globe above light up to represent the locations where the most people were searching for "Me Too" at any given time. Click on any location to see the top trending stories in that city.
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With Me Too Rising, Google not only visualizes the movement; it also recognizes how the internet and online platforms served as a place for women to feel, see, and claim their power by connecting with other survivors and learning their stories.
"This is not only a significant moment in history; it’s a significant moment in internet history: Me Too marks a time when sexual assault survivors everywhere turned the internet into a platform for their voices and perspectives to be heard and respected," Malika Saada Saar, Google's Public Policy and Government Relations Senior Counsel, wrote in a post about Me Too Rising.
On the site, you'll also see a link to sexual assault resources, which include ways to get in touch with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and the Trevor Project. In tandem with today's site launch, Google announced it will give $500,000 in grants to RAINN and Girls for Gender Equity, because, as Saar rightfully notes, "Although global awareness of sexual assault and harassment is a crucial first step, awareness alone cannot fix the problem."
Watch Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, speak about Me Too Rising in the YouTube clip below.
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