Beyond Me Too

Hey friends!

Earlier this semester, I attended a “Women in Academia” panel where Dr. Slocum-Schaffer mentioned something called amplification, a tactic women in the Obama administration started which involved highlighting and restating their female peers ideas until they were recognized by the larger group. I’ve been fascinated by the idea ever since because it’s so easily applicable to every aspect of our lives. I also knew I wanted to connect my project to the Me Too movement somehow, so I decided to combine these two ideas together. The final product ended up being a sort of visual blog. 

I asked for volunteers who were willing to share their story, whatever that meant to them, and I pulled powerful quotes from their audio recordings to turn into more artistic pieces that I posted on an Instagram account I made specifically for this project, @beyond.me.too. I decided to title it “beyond” because I believe Me Too and other similar movements have shown that the world listens less to the voice of a woman, no matter the topic. While stories of sexual violence are especially stigmatized and sensitive, I wanted anyone involved with this project to be able to share any story that has deeply affected them as a woman, whether it’s related to sexual violence or something completely different. I was originally planning to post only the artistic quotes on the Instagram page (my inspiration for this comes from @sophia.joan.short), but I quickly realized the words these women were speaking were too heavy and impactful for me to simply choose a few quotes and hope they were accurately representing the story as a whole. I decided to post the written dialogues alongside the artistic quote pieces so others could see the whole story as I did. 

This process was more difficult than I originally thought, so going forward, I’m going to link a blog account to the Instagram. This way, I’ll be able to post the artistic quotes as a sort of intro or cover art, and then link it to the actual story which will be on the blog. This will make things easier for me to upload, and the formatting will be more clean and precise. I’ll also have the option to upload pieces from the original audio clips with the participants permission, which I’m excited about because I quickly realized in the middle of this project that no series of words I string together will ever match the power of a human voice. I couldn’t replicate their sobs, their long pauses, the moments their voices cracked. As I continue this project (as I plan to), I hope to find a way to better incorporate a real sense of voice in the pieces. 

The best part of all the work that I did was the bonds I was able to form with the participants. Listening to both the pain and the bravery in their voices inspired me to share my own story, which I wasn’t originally planning to do. The way we were able to connect on such a deep level is something I would have never experienced without this project, and I’m grateful. 

I chose this project because I wanted women to feel heard, to actually be heard. Since the account is public, I’ve already gotten messages from several friends telling me that the account has impacted them in some way, and asking to share their own story. I’m so proud and so hopeful, because I know that when it comes time to take a new, bigger step, I have several women behind me who are ready to run.

Here's the account: Beyond Me Too

P.S. Yes, the Nick you'll read about in my story is our Nick. I have first-hand knowledge that he is the best person you’ll ever meet.