200,000 in New York City. 300,000 in Chicago. 500,000 in Los Angeles.
From Rome to Frankfurt, Osaka to San Francisco, hundreds of thousands of protesters turned up at the Women’s March 2018, marking the first anniversary of the march which was held on US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
One person who stood out at the march at NYC was the Now or Never singer Halsey who read her poem titled ‘A Story Like Mine’. The poem tells about Halsey’s experience of childhood abuse, being forced by her boyfriend to have sex, being sexually assaulted and the trauma of performing on stage through a miscarriage. The poem also gives an account of a friend’s rape and Halsey’s experience of accompanying her to Planned Parenthood for abortion.
ALSO READ: At the #Women’sMarch 2018, TimesUp and MeToo campaigns find solace
Listen to her powerful poem:
here is my entire “A Story Like Mine” poem from today’s #WomensMarch2018 in NYC tw: rape / assault. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/l3fji73woM
— h (@halsey) January 20, 2018
Halsey has always been a staunch advocate of women’s rights. At the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize concert, she wore a jacket with ’20:1′ sewn on the back, which is roughly the proportion of male-to-female prize recipients.
While the US President suggested women celebrate ‘economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months’ through a tweet, Halsey too had a message for Donald Trump. She told a TMZ photographer,
“I hope he [President Trump] watches my f**king speech!”
ALSO READ: Post Harvey Weinstein, these 12 powerful men of Hollywood were accused of sexual harassment
2017 forced many powerful men on the likes of Harvey Weinstein, James Franco and Aziz Ansari check their privilege as allegations of sexual misconduct ruled the headlines. When the Weinstein sexual harassment scandal exploded, women and men all over the world recounted stories of sexual assault and misconduct through #MeToo.
