By Emma Greenberg ’18

Sexual assault allegations rocked Hollywood, the feminism board got torn apart in school and treated as a joke, nationally every day there’s another victim shaming and children get sexualized for wearing shirts that show their collarbone. Trump came into office as the President. A man who has several charges of alleged sexual assault, a man who has been proven to have cheated on every single one of his wives except for the one to date. A man who has said “Grab her by the pussy” and been exposed for it all over the world, and still became president. 2017 was a year of one disappointment after another for women.

But after watching the Golden Globes, I feel that 2018 will be a year of hope. I think that women are going to finally take a stand against laws and people who have held them down for so long (that includes other women who align with misogynists). I believe that 2018 will be the year of the women.

At the Golden Globes,I was moved by the support all attendees showed in bringing awareness to sexual assault. It started with #timesup. Times up is a sexual assault movement in response to the sexual assault allegations in Hollywood and the #metoo hashtag (the me too hashtag is a way to say that one has personally experienced sexual assault).

I saw nothing but black apparel on the red carpet. The stars of Hollywood joined together in support of the times up movement which campaigned to have only black be worn at the Golden Globes. Not only did I see my role models wearing black, I also saw people who I never expected to be wearing black demonstrating their support for the movement. I was proud to see that instead of simply talking about movies almost everyone talked about the times up movement instead.  Additionally, due to the popularity of the movement, advocates were able to raise $15 million for the time up legal defense funds which aims to help victims of sexual assault. Yeah, it was pretty cool to see that instead of just talking about the problem for once, Hollywood actually did something. The women of Hollywood actually did something.

The real event of the night, though, that leads me to be hopeful was Oprah Winfrey’s acceptance speech of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. Instead of going on to talk about all of the amazing things she’s done, which she deserves to talk about as she has been an activist for decades, she took the opportunity to talk about women’s rights. She spoke about how sexual assault affects all women, no matter their race, religion, politics or background. She spoke about how there are so many victims who we will never know the names of. She was giving a voice to those without one. She was being a prevailer for women everywhere.

I felt a particular surge of hope when Winfrey concluded her speech with these lines, “So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘Me too’ again.”

These words really spoke to me, because if someone like Oprah, who has been a victim of sexual assault (she was raped and had a baby at age 14), can come out and speak with such a message of hope, it leads me to believe that even in the darkest days hope can be found.

Leading with Winfrey’s example, I hope and want  2018 to be the year women finally stand together as a united front against sexual assault.