WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. – The founder of the “Me Too” movement says she wants to clear up some misconceptions about it.
"People talk about this a movement to take down powerful men or against men or things of that nature. That's the only way they can think about it, and so what I try to do is help people have a more expansive way of thinking about this," Tarana Burke said.
Burke shared her message at Webster University Monday night in honor of Black History Month.
She founded the movement back in 2006 — before it became a hashtag community on social media — to give survivors a way to share their truth.
"I'm a survivor of childhood sexual violence. I was victimized when I was 13 years old,” Washington University student Najjuwah Walden said.
Walden sees her own role in the movement and a role model in Burke.
"I wanted to dissect my own experience and learn exactly what happened, so I can prevent it from happening in my community and to other women and girls as well,” Walden said.
Those women and girls are just as important to the movement as the celebrities who've championed it, and Burke wants that to be clear.
"It's a movement for everybody, it's not just for one particular group,” Burke said.
"It's beautiful,” Walden said.
