by Maggie Downs posted in Parenting

Certainly you've seen the posts on social media by now. #MeToo
My feeds across every platform have been filled with them ? women, and some men, sharing stories of abuse and assault, as well as those raising a hand to be counted among those who have been abused or assaulted.

Here's how it started: Over the weekend, actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted her followers and encouraged women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted to respond with the hashtag #MeToo. According to The Atlantic, within 24 hours, the hashtag had been tweeted nearly half a million times. The campaign caught fire on Facebook and Instagram too.
As my friends and loved ones chimed in, I scrolled through pages and pages of brave and public acknowledgement. By now I've lost count of all the #MeToos. Of course I didn't need to see a trending topic to know that most, if not all, women in the world have suffered abuse and attacks. But it always seems to fall on the backs of survivors to make other people care about what happened, and I'm inspired by how many courageous people have stepped forward to do just that.
I'm still trying to sort through all my feelings on this -- every time a big harassment or assault case hits the news, it dredges up awful memories -- but this particular campaign feels especially powerful to me now as a mother.

In reading these personal stories (and in mining my own past), it's striking to see how young the victims of assaults or a...