Image copyright CSPCA Image caption The photographs are an effort to raise awareness of violence against women and girls
More than 100,000 people have joined a global #MeToo hashtag to raise awareness of the #MeToo movement and the disproportionate number of women and girls who are sexually assaulted or harassed.
Police were quick to say the photographs were not targeted at any specific group of people but the #MeToo movement is controversial because some groups have chosen to focus on the problem of violence against women.
This so-called meToo, which describes women’s experiences of sexual violence, is not our first story on the BBC. At the peak of the MeToo movement in 2017, the We Are List examined the different types of sexual abuse and harassment women face on a daily basis. This is our eighth story on the BBC.
How have media covered women’s abuse and harassment on the rise?
Uncovered/Unstoppable
The BBC has covered the rise of #MeToo extensively in the run-up to International Women’s Day and at the moment we are telling stories on how abuse and harassment are more widespread than ever and persistent in some parts of the country.
One of our stories from last March detailed how the city of Seattle was rife with the incidence of sexual harassment on public transport. In another story about rape on the streets of London the BBC Radio 4 Today programme showed in detail how the eyes of their listeners were on them and they got criticised as they discussed consent.
Some people criticised them for making light of rape while others were quick to label this criticism as “man-bashing”. In one of our coverage from last year, Radio 4 Today focused on the efforts of young women activists in the Northwest in the US who confronted men who called women “bitches” and how this often led to confrontations.
The BBC has also highlighted the cases of rape and sexual harassment, including abuse that targets different groups of people – mainly young women – and the rather simple way this can escalate. In a BBC World Service report about three girls in Washington DC who use a concealer to disguise their faces, the BBC reported that “a number of girls, including some as young as 13 years old, have reported being groped and assaulted by groups of college students during gatherings on US college campuses”.
The BBC investigation also spoke to Claudia Becerra, aged 33, who was raped by four men in 2002. She was also a victim of sexual harassment at the time by three men, which she said “really made me realise that there are many other people like me”.
Among other stories, BBC One broadcast a highly personal report by Lauren Smith following her own experience of being raped by three men on a bus in London at a time when she was 18 and living in Los Angeles. In a Telegraph report by Martin Schneider, the writer wrote of the “intimidation and fear” they felt after being raped by three different men in New York and described the “continued rape culture and pervasive sexual harassment that dehumanises women”.
Correspondents: Janice Kirk, Nizaar Ali, Jennifer Williams, Kerry Shaw
Learn more about BBC News’ approach to covering gender and sexual abuse
Find out how the BBC went behind the scenes at the Met Police
How has the #MeToo movement affected your work?
Images: Jonathan Ruffer