How American women's growing power finally turned #metoo into a cultural moment
The Harvey Weinstein scandal has prompted a flood of accusations and admissions – but, unlike previous sexual harassment flash points, it has also sparked a moment of national reckoning.
Women once silenced by fear are speaking out, and the names of perpetrators keep coming: in recent days, TV hosts Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose were fired, New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush was suspended, and the head of Pixar, John Lasseter, said he would take a six-month sabbatical.
The huge number of stories, covering lewd texts to predatory advances to rape, is unparalleled. The power structures that used to protect the harassers are crumbling. Companies are acting more swiftly and punitively than ever before.
Anger at men’s behaviour has erupted in the US several times in the past: from the “smash the masher” movement of the early 1900s, where women fought back against street harassers with hatpins and umbrellas, to the feminist “speak-out” sessions of the 1970s to the support for Anita Hill in the 1990s.
But what led to today’s tipping point? campaign played a crucial role, other elements also helped create a tinderbox waiting for a Weinstein-like spark.
