Ah, I think that's where we disagree. While that may be the point, I do not see this actually opening up a conversation. Where is the outlet for a conversation to start? There is a statement, and an awful one at that, but a status and a handful of comments on Facebook makes not a lasting, impactful conversation. The quote veen pulled out of Reclaiming Conversation (and there are many, many other applicable quotes) call into question if we are really making progress, truly conversing with one another. In a few months I think we will see if that is the case or not with the recent "Me Too" campaign.
It's not likely to have an impact on you because you aren't a creepy guy or a woman who has been harassed. I'm not sure if it makes a difference on a bigger scale but I know that it does make a difference to individuals. Sometimes talking about this stuff opens up a conversation off the internet as well. Sometimes being able to share something like that in even the vaguest details is incredibly cathartic especially for women who have struggled to even put words to what happened to them. It's common to jump back and forth between knowing you were assaulted and thinking you're just overreacting because others had it worse. So putting a statement like that out can mean a lot to individual women and it can mean a lot to the woman who resonates with it when the post has some more detail.
I don't disagree with you. But I also never said that it doesn't make a difference to the individual. I'm talking about actionable discussion or change on a larger scale and society/community wide, which you acknowledged. Two very different things.
I think it starts with individuals though and slowly becomes a more society wide change. Things don't change over night, people devote entire lifetimes to making small changes because it takes a while to really change society. I mean Australia still hasn't legalized gay marriage. Progress is slow with or without technology. If anything I would say technology, or I guess the access to information it provides helps move things along faster.
Well we can definitely say the internet helped push things along for Trump so maybe you're right.