The unlikely rise of #Metoo in Vietnam

BAOTRAN LIM: How did this seemingly radical movement find itself in a conservative country like Vietnam, which lacks the vocabulary to even express sexual harassment?

Data released earlier this year by Ipsos MORI in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership showed that globally sexual harassment is what concerns people the most, when it comes to gender inequality. Despite only going viral in 2017 after the Weinstein allegations, the #MeToo movement was originally founded in 2007 to help survivors of sexual violence. #Metoo has given a voice to victims of sexual harassment enabling them to share stories through unofficial channels, reducing the fear of intimidation victims may have if they went through the police or media. So how did this seemingly radical movement find itself in a conservative country like Vietnam?

Vietnamese people lack the knowledge about what constitutes sexual harassment due to existing limitations in the language. There is a lack of vocabulary to express issues around sexual harassment in Vietnamese, the terms that do exist are on the opposite ends of the spectrum, either describing rape or flirtatious behaviour - there’s no in between. This means that not only is there a lack of understanding, but victims of sexual harassment simply do not have the right terms to describe what has happened to them. This is made all the more problematic when research shows that 87% of girls and women have encountered some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime.

 Source: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/the-unlikely-rise-of-metoo-in-vietnam