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The Fateful Timing That Sparked #MeToo
When journalists came to me and asked: Which sexual abuser could we expose next? My answer, of course, was Harvey Weinstein.
Investigative journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey released their new book She Said this week, offering us a deeper insight into the story that rocked Hollywood, and then the country, about Harvey Weinstein, his survivors, and his enablers. As the person who first suggested to the New York Times that they look at Weinstein’s history of abuse, I feel it’s important to explain why I did it. I did not make that suggestion lightly; there was a history behind my actions, and I was aware that the investigation would have huge implications for our society.
Since 2012, the organization I co-founded, UltraViolet, has been running high-profile, winning campaigns to hold people and institutions accountable for propping up misogyny: from opposing access to abortion and birth control to sexual assault. Our view was that as long as people in power could act with impunity and undermine women’s ability to thrive, gender equity was out of our grasp. As long as there was no cost to sexism and overt hatred of women — expressed by violence and policies that amount to violence against women — we’d continue to be second-class citizens.
