From Everyday Sexism to #MeToo in the Harvey Weinstein Era

A cultural shift is finally happening due to the collective power of brave women and journalists.

The recent guilty verdict for Harvey Weinstein is a triumph for the 108 women, collectively known as the Silence Breakers, who accused him of sexual misconduct ranging from harassment to forcible rape. It is also a victory for the scores of women who have been traumatized by sexual abuse and finally had their voices heard in the #MeToo movement.

My first lesson on how to combat sexual harassment is just as vivid today as it was forty years ago. The temperature in Rome that July day topped 95 degrees. My college roommates and I boarded the lurching bus to the Vatican with hordes of sweaty tourists and squeezed into standing-room only aisles. The man behind me started pushing against me. I inched forward. He followed. Soon I felt him thrusting against me as he breathed heavily over my shoulder. I started to tremble and panic. I was completely trapped. Finally the bus reached the destination, and the man vanished into the crowd.

Women have been facing indignities like this that we have shrugged off as an unfortunate, but normal, part of our lives. Then #MeToo happened, in 2017, and the conversation became mainstream.

Strength in Numbers Sparks Lasting Change

But what about the scores of victims not involved in a high-profile, celebrity trial? In 2012, Laura Bates, a UK activist and writer, launched the website, Everyday Sexism, where women could share their stories. To her surprise, she unleashed a tsunami: 50,000 women from all over the world shared their stories. “It gave people a place to talk about it, to be heard, to be believed. But it also created a kind of database that would help other people to realize the scale of the problem and not ignore it anymore,” says Laura in her interview with Guy Raz on a recent episode of the TED Radio Hour.

Data is most powerful when it leads to large-scale impact. So Bates focused on sexual harassment incidents on UK public transport. The weight of the testimony was so powerful that it convinced officials to implement a hotline and security procedures for addressing these incidents.

On the legal side, #MeToo initiated Time’sUp, a movement against sexual harassment founded to counteract the Weinstein effect and #MeToo. As of December 2018, it has raised more than $22 million for its legal defense fund and gathered nearly 800 volunteer lawyers.

The fight has just begun. But come to think of it, my personal fight against harassment started on the bus in Rome. My friends and I formulated a plan of attack: if another man tried to grope us, we would curse at him in English, shove him away, and call for backup.