If you have been following the news at all recently, you have seen the name “Harvey Weinstein” plastered across the pages, headlining the top stories online, and even trending on social medias such as Twitter. Many Hollywood actresses have come out with accusations that the well-known film producer sexually abused them in the past, and that he paid many of them off for decades.

Some have dismissed the case as simply an issue rooted in Hollywood, while others have asked why the public is surprised by such allegations, especially after the sexual assault scandals with other men in power, such as Donald Trump and Bill Cosby. The significance of the Weinstein outrage, though, spans more than one place, industry, and clearly more than one man.

No one likes to talk about sexual assault, whether it be a personal story or just a contribution to a conversation about the topic. It’s a messy, confusing, and disturbing subject matter; however, the only way to begin to reduce the number of and prevent sexual assaults is to talk about it.

On October 15, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted out a picture that read: “Suggested by a friend: ‘If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me Too.’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.’”

Soon enough, Twitter was overwhelmed with stories of rape and sexual assault with the hashtag “MeToo”.

One user wrote, “Didn’t report to the police for years because my mum told me he’s ‘family’ and we look out for family #MeToo”.

“I was 13, he was 19. He lied to me and said he was 17. I was a child, but I was told it was my fault. #MeToo,” wrote another.

With the outpour of declarations and stories of sexual assault following the news outbreak about Weinstein’s mistreatment of women, many have asked the question: what now? How are we supposed to fix an issue that has certainly not begun with Weinstein and won’t end with him either?

We all wish we had the answers to these questions and could wipe out sexual assault and predatory behavior as a whole; that’s just not realistic. We can, though, inspire people to speak out about sexual assault, unite together to protest the abuse, and encourage those who have been sexually abused to come forward with their stories to bring awareness and hopefully create change.