Why #MeToo Still Matters: ACFW is Pushing It Forward in an Era of Uncertainty

Where Is #MeToo Now?

It was bad news – Diddy escaping the heaviest sex trafficking conviction + Harvey Weinstein’s New York trial being initially overturned. Where was #MeToo? Actually, it was front and center – otherwise there may have been no trials.

#MeToo’s heart is pumping despite setbacks and backlash. Nobody said it would be easy to change the world after 10,000 years.

But living legends have left indelible marks on women’s rights, making way for #MeToo: Gretchen Carlson, internationally acclaimed journalist who accused former Fox chairman Roger Ailes of sexual harassment; Gloria Steinem, journalist/ activist who cofounded Ms. magazine + Ms. Foundation for Women (with Marlo Thomas and Letty Cottin Pogrebin); and Jane Fonda, the incandescent film icon who has used her lifetime of celebrity to protest war and violence to women around the world.

#MeToo Shook the World – We’re Still in Shock Over It.

The #MeToo movement started in 2009, growing out of New York City activist Tarana Burke’s nonprofit youth organization “Just Be, Inc.,” which she founded to help young Black survivors of sexual assault + remind them they were not alone.¹

Burke still recounts the day she was talking with a young girl who suddenly, shakily began spilling the long-locked secret that her mother’s boyfriend was doing horrible things to her body. Tarana shut down, unable to handle the images, suggesting the girl might be better served by “someone else.”

At that moment, the girl slammed shut again. The look on her pale face, Tarana says, still haunts her: “I watched her put her mask back on and go back into the world like she was all alone and I couldn’t even bring myself to whisper … me too.”

When Did “MeToo” Go Viral?

In October 2017, actress Alyssa Milano urged survivors of sexual assault and harassment to share their stories on social media following reports in the New York Times² and New Yorker³ detailing accusations of sexual harassment by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Alyssa tweeted:

“If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”

In the next 24 hours, 12 million responses came, including those from more celebrities like Lady Gaga, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Viola Davis, but also off-radar waitresses, nurses, florists, mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives, even a few who had been trafficked – many of whom openly talked for the first time about being sexually assaulted.

There were almost immediate repercussions:

On January 20, 2018, the “#MeToo” Women’s March in Washington, D.C. drew 500,000 women.⁴ By late October 2018, the New York Times reported: “#MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men. Nearly Half of Their Replacements Are Women.”⁵

How Does A Case for Women Intersect With #MeToo?

We will not give up! At the core of A Case for Women’s mission is empowering women to speak up and use the authority of civil lawsuits when bad things happen because of corporate wrongdoing. Helping women from the heart is where our heart is. We preach about how just one woman’s voice can start a loud choir.

We think you can help us change the world.

To accomplish this, we support pivotal civil lawsuits relevant to sexual assault scandals because we believe these lawsuits are the best way to create positive attitudes toward survivors + spark corporate/ cultural change, as well as encourage more women who’ve been hurt to step forward and say this is not and never was okay.

The civil lawsuits we champion go up against the Biggest Bads, offending corporations and institutions that harbor predators + sometimes, less often, individuals themselves who are moneyed enough to be viable defendants, meaning they can afford to pay survivors financial compensation for some of the tremendous harm they’ve caused.

Civil law is different from criminal law, which goes after individual assailants to put them in prison. We support both processes + they can be ongoing at the same time, but we focus on civil lawsuits.

What Has A Case for Women Helped Achieve for Survivors?

We’ve already helped thousands of women seek justice after suffering serious sexual assault. Here are some of the pivotal SA lawsuits we’ve loudly supported (in alphabetical order):

How Can A Case for Women Help Me?

We’re a women-owned + women-led organization that connects assault survivors to powerful attorneys who only handle sexual assault cases.

Despite the disappointments, women are still coming forward to speak their truth! A Case for Women is doing everything in its power to drive #MeToo forward in an era of uncertainty + help keep it alive, kicking, relevant. Despite media criticism and ingrained cultural pushback, we believe, like Tarana Burke, that accountability doesn’t end with hashtags.

Accountability is significantly sustained through courtroom wins when brave women speak their truth, and survivor-centered advocacy. We want to see a day when no more women or girls feel rejected for finding the courage to tell their story. We are 100% here to listen to yours. Please consider letting us help carry your burden. You are not ever alone. We help you from our heart.

Sources

¹ Tarana Burke, “The ‘me too’ movement’s success took a decade of work, not just a hashtag. And there’s more to do,” NBC, December 31, 2019.
² Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey, “Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades,” New York Times, October 5, 2017.
³Ronan Farrow, “Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories, New Yorker, October 10, 2017.
⁴Jennifer Calfas, “In Women’s March Speech, Natalie Portman Details ‘Environment of Sexual Terrorism,’” TIME, January 21, 2018.
⁵Audrey Carlsen, Maya Salam, Claire Cain Miller, Denise Lu, Ash Ngu, Jugal K. Patel, Zach Wichter, “#MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men. Nearly Half of Their Replacements Are Women,” New York Times, October 29, 2018.