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#MeToo: Sexual abuse stories around the world pour out on social media

A common refrain in the accounts by people both famous and not was that no one believed the accusers when they spoke out.

“Molested by a family member. Raped as a kid and an adult. Became a drug addict and then overcame. Don’t ever give up. I’m here#MeToo,” wrote a woman identified as Amy Christensen on her Twitter account.

There were many sympathetic responses from men.

Vinay Ramesh, a tech entrepreneur, encouraged “all my fellow men to learn about #MeToo. The responsibility to stop sexual violence is absolutely on us.”

– Around the world –

Italian actress Asia Argento, who has accused Weinstein of sexual abuse, offered another bombshell, saying a Hollywood director had raped her and that an Italian director had exposed himself to her when she was a minor.

“Hollywood big shot director with Napoleon complex gave me GHB (the “date rape” drug) and raped me unconscious. I was 26 years old,” she tweeted using the hashtag #quellavoltache, in remarks that sparked outrage in her home country.

Argento did not name either of the men she accused.

In France, the top-trending hashtag #balancetonporc, started by journalist Sandra Muller, brought forth stories from women of being sexually harassed at work or in the street.

Muller began the hashtag recounting how her former boss had called her “my type of woman” and then commented on her breasts.

Muller — who has been living in New York for four years and said she was “very shocked” by the Weinstein affair — told AFP she had not “been looking for buzz” and was “overwhelmed” by the avalanche of reactions.

In Britain, Labour Party lawmaker Stella Creasy tweeted her own claims of harassment, “like millions of women & girls all around the world. Shame is on the attackers, not me.”

Similar stories spread in the Arab world, from Tunisia to Egypt and Dubai, describing incidents suffered by women at work or in public spaces, and denouncing “rape culture.”

More than 20 women — a who’s who of Hollywood — have come forward to accuse Weinstein of rape, assault and sexual harassment.

Weinstein, who insists any sexual encounters were consensual, was expelled last week from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Producers Guild of America — a film industry group representing thousands of workers — on Monday began expulsion proceedings against Weinstein, who will have a chance to respond before the Guild makes its final decision on November 6.

 

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