Last week, social media were flooded with personal accounts from those who either had experienced some form of sexual harassment or sexual assult. They posted to their profiles, #MeToo. This relaunched the 2007 “Me Too” campaign created by Tarana Burke to establish a foundation for sexual-harassment and -assault survivors in underprivileged communities to seek support.

Within hours, social-media platforms were filled with victims of sexual harassment or sexual assault recounting their trauma to bring awareness to the worldwide problem of sexual violence. While the original motivation behind the campaign was commendable, a problem still exists and needs to be addressed.

Reports of sexual harassment and sexual assaults have not been absent from the media; however, they seem to only hold value when victims must constantly relive their traumas in great detail to be believed.

This shows the U.S. lack of vigor in addressing sexual assault on a legal level. While local activist initiatives such as the UI Sister Vigil are important for survivors, deterrents still stand in the way of correcting the issue, such as the withdrawal of Title IX protections from survivors of either sexual harassment or sexual assault.

I find it highly unfair for victims of either sexual harassment or sexual assault to feel the need to come forward and recount their experiences publicly to bring about awareness of the issue itself. They are too often forced to lay their traumas bare and risk potentially being re-traumatized. Throughout these past few years, more and more individuals have come forward to address the problem; however, little has changed.

Numerous members of our society firmly believe that sexual violence doesn’t occur as often as reported. As a result, victims are forced to not only deal with the violence perpetrated against them but also come forward to often be disbelieved and ridiculed. It is unfair for victims to have to continue to relive their traumas when it is obvious that sexual violence is a pervasive issue. According to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men will be sexually assaulted while in college.

Which raises the question, When are things are going to change? While initiatives have been started, often only awareness is spread and not actual ways to stop the incidents from occurring.

One thing is clear, however — something needs to change and change soon.

Sexual harassment: Unwanted frequent sexual comments or advances. Legally actionable harassment in the workplace might include when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment, requests for sexual favors, or verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature.