She Said

After the publication of the Weinstein revelations, women from a wide variety of occupations came forth with their stories, and there was a “growing consensus that all sorts of previously tolerated practices were wrong” (182). Weinstein was in jail, awaiting trial for some of his crimes.

Some suggested that perpetrators were the true victims and “the #MeToo movement was becoming a witch hunt” (186). Others believed laws on sexual harassment needed updates, revisions, and better enforcement. Victims’ race and/or class also played a role in the treatment their cases received, and Kantor published articles on harassment of women in low-paying jobs where “little had shifted structurally” (187). For example, a property owner harassed a woman named Kim Lawson until she was forced into homelessness, and both a McDonald’s coworker and supervisor also harassed her. When she objected to a manager, he did nothing about it, and she feared retaliation if she complained further.

In August 2018, a Stanford neuroscientist named Christine Blasey Ford began quietly notifying others that Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee, had sexually assaulted her in the 1980s. Ford was not especially politically active but was concerned about Kavanaugh’s potential appointment to the highest court in the United States. She therefore contacted her congresswoman, Anna Eshoo. Eshoo’s office instructed Ford to send a confidential letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would conduct hearings on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Feinstein’s office connected Ford with attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks. Inspired by the Weinstein case’s outcomes, the lawyers encouraged Ford to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Yet she feared speaking publicly and waffled between wanting to act while also seeking privacy. By August’s end, Ford decided against moving forward.

As of early September, Ford stood by her decision to remain silent, but the information about her letter to Senator Feinstein leaked to the media, and Feinstein gave the letter to the FBI. The FBI sent Ford’s letter to the Office of the President for the nominee’s background file, and Kavanaugh swiftly denied wrongdoing.

Ford consented to an interview with The Washington Post to gain control over her story. She explained that Kavanaugh had not raped her but that he had sexually assaulted her; she also provided records from therapy dating to 2012 in which she discussed the assault and resulting trauma. Critics quickly emerged, while others rallied around her as a heroic symbol of the #MeToo movement. Ford’s attorneys encouraged her to testify, but she was wary of a public, televised hearing. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh’s high school friends, whom Ford had named as witnesses, submitted written statements to the Judiciary Committee denying any knowledge of her accusations and defending Kavanaugh’s character.

By September 24, the Judiciary Committee announced that they would vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation in the coming week. Time was of the essence; Ford’s lawyers continued to encourage her public testimony. The authors note, “[I]t was clear Ford was never going to give one firm and final yes to testifying in an open hearing. Her ambivalence was paralyzing” (224). Yet Ford came to DC, accompanied by several friends for support, and prepared for public testimony with her attorneys at the Watergate Hotel. Kantor arrived at the hotel to observe the preparations and the hearing; she found a bustling room protected by security guards due to threats leveled at Ford, and an abundance of flowers and gifts sent by supporters. When Ford testified, she was measured, calm, and precise in her responses, making her a credible and convincing source. Kavanaugh spoke following her testimony and unleashed a vitriolic attack on the accusations against him, claiming he was the victim of a left-wing conspiracy to tank his nomination and leading Republican senators on the Committee to claim the whole thing was a farce and “disgrace” (237).

Despite Ford’s powerful testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee chose to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination, and the Senate eventually confirmed him in October 2018. Yet the #MeToo movement continued, gaining strength, with Kim Lawson and other McDonald’s employees staging a national walkout over the corporation’s poor handling of sexual harassment. The New York Times asked readers if they felt remorse for how they had treated women and received hundreds of responses from men who had committed egregious acts ranging from rape to groping, many of them apologizing for their actions.

In early 2019, Kantor and Twohey convened many of the women they interviewed over the course of the Weinstein investigation and beyond for a group discussion and interview. Women from across the US and abroad came to Gwyneth Paltrow’s home in California, where they could meet in a private and supportive environment. Weinstein accusers Laura Madden and Zelda Perkins came from the UK. Ashley Judd joined the group, and McDonald’s labor organizer Kim Lawson made the trip. Rachel Crooks, whom Megan had interviewed several years earlier about having been harassed and forcibly kissed by Donald Trump, participated, as did Christine Blasey Ford.

Women who were once terrified of talking about their experiences were now quite vocal. Perkins, for instance, had broken her settlement agreement. When Weinstein’s legal team failed to pursue her, she went on to speak out against settlements in the British media and before Parliament.

There were noticeable differences between the women, which Paltrow’s affluent home symbolized. Many of the women were solidly middle to upper-middle class, while Kim Lawson had once been homeless. Rowena Chiu pointed out that stereotypes of Asian Americans as the silent “model minority” fed into her hesitancy to speak up (252).

Collectively, the participants wanted their media exposure to end. They acknowledged that “[T]hey had all been part of a genuine realignment, but it was so incomplete” (256), and they questioned how much more they wanted to do. Some, including Ford, worried about their identities being forever linked to their assaults. Yet all the women realized that nothing would change if victims did not share their accounts. A few weeks after the gathering, Rowena Chiu, the only participant who had not yet spoken openly about Weinstein’s harassment, decided to share her story with the public.