It means more than that for the 19-year-old university student, as it is the first time for her to open up about sexual abuse she experienced as a child. “All these years, I have kept it all to myself,” she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. It began at a public swimming pool, where she was sexually harassed by a friend of her parents who lived next door. She was in fifth grade, and the abuse continued until she was in eighth grade.

The perpetrator was a respected man in the neighborhood. Fearing that nobody would believe her, Winona had not told anyone about the harassment — until Sunday, that is, when she realized she was not alone. Women who have experienced sexual abuse or assault banded together virtually through the hashtag, which has been tweeted more than half a million times across the globe so far to show the magnitude of unwanted sexual advances experienced by women.

Read also: Jakartans find it hard to breathe

The movement has also echoed in Indonesia, where women have begun to speak up against abuse.

“I thought it was only me, and talking about it would be weird, but then I saw that Blake Lively and Cara Delevingne tweeted about it and said that they had gone through such an experience. Somehow that gave me strength, knowing that I am not alone,” she said, referring to Hollywood celebrities.

For 23-year-old Prita (not her real name), #MeToo is a solidarity wave that provides strength for victims who have been afraid to talk about their experiences.

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