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On the afternoon of Oct. 15, 2017, the actress Alyssa Milano tweeted a request to her followers: "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' a reply to this tweet."
The results were overwhelming.
Within 24 hours, comments and comments about social media, with women and men from around the world sharing personal stories. Among the celebrities who were responded Lady Gaga, Viola Davis, Javier Muñoz and Evan Rachel Wood.
But many women who were not nurses, teachers, engineers, florists, waitresses and students – mothers and daughters, sisters and wives.
Some being up for the first time about being raped. Others told of fending off aggressive co-workers and losing jobs.
#MeToo Stories – but she was surprised about how they were so young.
"Everyone was so brave to talk about their experiences," Milano told NBC News in a phone interview on Monday, the anniversary of her tweet heard 'round the world.
"The most beautiful thing of all of us," Milano added. "The collective bread we've felt in a collective power. It's amazing."
In the weeks after Milano's tweet, the #MeToo movement – which the activist Tarana Burke – has become widespread, has become widespread, and has become a rare sexual assault. The results have been far-reaching – dozens of powerful men accused, many of them toppled, a handful of criminally charged.
"We've come really, really far in a year, but I think we have a lot more to go," said Milano. "No movement is perfect. There are going to be setbacks. But I think it's in the gray areas that we can have important discussions about setting boundaries that have never been set before. "
NBC News, Twitter: Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn: "Me, Too" last fall. Seven of those women, ranging from their teens to their 60s, to their motherboard and their lives. Some were glad that they'd been stepped forward a year ago and were heartened by the reckoning that's happened since; others pointed to Brett Kavanaugh 's confirmation to the Supreme Court as it' s still a long road ahead.
These are their stories:
'I was told I did not have a choice'
Amanda Yennie, 46, who lives in Arizona, did not think twice about typing #MeToo when she spotted Milano's tweet last year.
When she was in her 20s, Yennie said, she was fired from her job as a Hooters hostess for standing up to customers who tried to grope her.
"I would tell them, 'If you want to keep your hand attached to your body, do not do that' and the manager told me, 'You have to let them grab you,'" she recalled. "I said, 'I'm not letting them touch me and I will defend myself' and I got fired. I was told I did not have a choice. "
Because Hooters in 2011, Hooters is unable to respond to Yennie's allegation, said Claudia Levitas, Hooters' chief legal officer. "What we can say, with 100% conviction," said Levitas in an email, "is that harassment is absolutely not tolerated at Hooters. We have a zero tolerance policy and provide extensive training to all of our managers. "
Yennie said she was later routinely harassed by a nightclub where she worked in Atlanta. Twice, she was followed to her by her who she said tried to rape her. It never happened to her to report to the police.
"It's not the culture," she said. "We're so happy that they're not hurt you."
Yennie, who works in statistics in Arizona, is now a married mother of two teenage boys.
The #MeToo movement prompted some candid conversations with her sounds.
"We've had various discussions about what consent means," she said. "If she's any point says 'no,' he must respect that. And if he does not, it's not the police he needs to worry about – it's me. "
'I felt like I wanted to say something'
Stephanie Angstadt was 17, living in a group home and "feeling very cut off from the real world" when she saw Milano's #MeToo tweet. She had been placed in the custody of a sexually abused girl in her father's custody, beginning when she was 15. (Her father was investigated and the case went to a grand jury, but it was not going forward, according to the district attorney who oversaw the case.)
Angsta said she was watching in #MeToo in response to Milano's tweet, which showed she was far from alone. When she shared her own story, she was met with support.
"A stranger tweeted back to me to stay strong," she recalled.
Now 18 and living on her own, Angstadt is working on a retail installation expert and considering a career in law. Her experience makes her want to help other women.
"The more women who speak out will make more people realize there's a problem," she said.
'To this day, it still makes me angry'
When Greta Kirby saw Milano's tweet, the memories started flooding back.
More than four decades ago, when she was 24 and working in Nashville as a bookkeeper for a financial firm, she was an older boss who was married with grandchildren. During an office party one night, she said, "he was all over me." She escaped by promising her boss she would meet him later – and then fled home. The next morning, her furious boss fired her.
Kirby turned to a lawyer for help, but the lawyer said it was not worth filing charges because
"It will be all over the newspapers and a lot of people will believe it's all your fault," Kirby said the lawyer told her.
"Kirby continued," So I had to forget about it, and that was another end of that, "Kirby continued. "To this day, it still makes me angry."
The incident prompted Kirby to go to school to study nursing, which she would have a safer field for women.
She was glad to lend her voice to #MeToo.
"Listening to people online and hearing and hearing their stories" I realized, "She said.
Earlier this year, Kirby ran for county commissioner in Smith County and won, unseating a male incumbent.
'I could not believe I was hearing this from a professor'
Nora Yolles Young was in her early 20s and on an archeological dig with a group of students at the University of the Redlands.
When she tries to talk about the situation, he brushes her off, she said.
"He said, 'Do not act like you did not know what you were doing,'" Young recalled. "I said, 'It sounds like you're saying I got what I asked for.' And he said, 'I do – and boys will be boys.' this from a professor. "
Young said to the class and the professor to give credit for it. The school declined to comment. The professor did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
When Young saw Milano's tweet, she thought back on the incident and decided to respond.
"I was hoping it would create a larger conversation of empowerment," she said.
Young, now 46, worked for years as an archeologist, but after 9/11 they decided to become a hypnotherapist focused on helping others – especially women – to heal.
'This is the time to talk about it'
Michelle Bart was 24 on Halloween in 1992 when she went to a party with colleagues at the Colorado Casino where she worked. She let a drunk co-worker sleep on her couch because he could not drive home. She woke up to find that he was in her bed and had sexually assaulted her, she said.
"I never reported it," she said. "I did not want to lose my job."
To avoid her attacker, she asked for a change at the casino, even though it means less money. She has struggled for years with a feeling of blame for the assault.
When she posted #MeToo in response to Milano's Facebook post, some family members would like to have a personal and painful story.
"My mom asked, 'Are you sure you should be talking about this?'" Bart said. "And I'm like: 'Yeah, this is the time to talk about it. We can not hide anymore. '"
Now living in the Northwest, Bart is the president and co-founder of the National Women's Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation, a nonprofit that assists women and children who are victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse in California, Washington and Oregon.
'The system is set up so that women do not want to come forward'
The #MeToo movement felt timely to Kristin Heckler, who had reported a professor in her graduate theater program at The New School for 2016.
"He stared at my chest. He repeatedly said things that made me feel uncomfortable, "she recalled.
The leering was difficult, she said, but so was the process of reporting him. Rumors spread that she was only speaking out because she wanted a better grade. Heckler believes reporting her professor cost her career opportunities.
"The system is set up so that women do not want to come forward," said Heckler, 30. "The world of theater is totally based on connections. And burning the bridge to my head of department definitely got me a deficit when it came to finding jobs. "
Still, she believes that a report has been added. Heckler's allegations, Heckler's allegations.
The New School confirmed that the professor is no longer working. The professor did not respond to a request for comment.
Heckler Manhattan-based flower truck, one year after the #MeToo movement launched.
"The progress we are making is slow. But I'm glad for the change, "she said. "The #MeToo movement shows us we have a voice and it's time to speak up."
'When I see the president making fun of a sexual assault survivor, I worry'
When Lily Axelrod saw her tweet a year ago, she was surprised by how many men were stunned.
"A lot of men did not seem to know that their lives were going through," she said.
Axelrod, 31, an immigration attorney, said the tweet brought back memories of a mentor who behaved inappropriately when she was a student.
She said she was cautiously optimistic about the #MeToo movement when it began. President Donald Trump's recent rally in Southaven, Mississippi, where he mocked Christine Blasey Ford's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which she accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh of attacking her when they were in high school, an allegation he denied.
"When I see the president making fun of a sexual assault survivor, I worry," Axelrod said.
As the mother of a 2-month-old girl, Axelrod said she is more than just a woman.
"I hope for a positive direction," she said.
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