the first man for me: Reclaiming Voice Through Digital and Physical Text

Abstract

Content Warning: Sexual Violence

These erasure/found poems explore the theme of #MeToo, which is a platform for survivors of sexual harassment and sexual violence to give voice to their experience(s). When I practice erasure poetry (the strategic emphasis and removal of words from an existing text), the creative act centres the control that was taken from me. The phrase “Me Too” was started over a decade ago by Tarana Burke, a black grassroots activist and change maker, and presently, in the digital era, survivors have used the hashtag #MeToo to find one another. What has come uncovered is that our stories of survivorship do not fit the “perfect survivor” narrative, because there is no such thing. In #MeToo, trans, non-binary, and queer survivors, have space to share their voice, on their terms, in their online communities.