In recent months the #MeToo and #Time’sUp campaign has dominated social media and Hollywood awards shows as a stand against sexual harassment in the workplace. However, the star-studded movement is not exclusive to movie sets and red carpets; women in all walks of life are represented through this movement. From streets to college campuses to offices, women are feeling empowered because of this movement to speak up about their experiences.

Santaluces is not an exception to this movement.

There have been teachers on this campus who demean young women in classrooms meant for learning. Some teachers intentionally give easier problems to girls because they believe it is all they can handle. There are teachers who do not take their female students seriously even when they express their discomfort and frustration with the way they are being treated.

There are inappropriate encounters that occur on this campus that are forgotten without consequence. Boys can touch girls’ bodies and nothing is done about it. Even after a young woman tells an adult on this campus, absolutely nothing is done about the incident because it’s one student’s word against another. Situations like these are the foundation of a lifetime of harassment and abuse. It normalizes the notion that dismissed incidents like these are acceptable in society and that when it occurs in the future it is best to avoid the trouble because nothing will happen. However, #Time’sUp is here to break the cycle.

According to the American Association of University Women, nearly half of all students have been sexually harassed at some point during their academic career and this movement allows for young people to know that they are not alone. It gives them the confidence to fight for equality of treatment in all aspects of life. It lets high school students going into the professional world know that this kind of treatment is unacceptable today and always.

Going into the next chapter of this life knowing everything that could happen and what does happen is intimidating, it is easy to live in fear of the world around us and even easier to believe that abuse is commonplace. This is why movements like this are so important for young women who are going to be fresh faces in a world that can be so manipulative.

In the coming years, a new generation of young, empowered women are going to take the world by storm. Women are going into colleges, and in the professional realm they are going to push for equality of treatment and for an end to sexual harassment. The abusers in power have been able to keep their positions for so long, but now the power belongs to those who were once voiceless against the abusers.

As high school students this movement has given confidence and comfort knowing that whatever happens, there are millions of people who support the cause and those who speak out against their harassers. Knowing that there are real repercussions for those who use their position of power to harass is reassuring in the sense that survivors of the abuse are being taken seriously after generations of disregard.