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Unwanted Sexual Attention at Work Is Down Amid #MeToo Movement, But There's a Catch


The #MeToo movement shook Hollywood, the media, and high-powered corporations across America, but questions remain about its ramifications in other industries and professional work spaces. Now, new research published in the scientific journal Plos One indicates there might be some measurable changes in the workplace as a result of #MeToo: In the group interviewed, reports of sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention in professional settings decreased since the movement took off. But not without some other (perhaps related) side-effects.

Researchers first talked to 250 working women in the U.S. in 2016 and asked questions about the gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion faced at their jobs. The researchers conducted a second survey in September 2018, reconnecting with women from the first group to see how their experiences had changed as conversations around #MeToo evolved. The researchers found that 25 percent of women reported being sexually coerced at work in 2016, but that number declined to 16 percent in 2018. Unwanted sexual attention also dropped, with 66 percent of women reporting instances in 2016 and 25 percent in 2018.

While these data points do seem like progress, one troubling stat stands out. In this study, there was an increase in reports of gender harassment, with numbers rising from 76 percent of women in 2016 to 92 percent in 2018. The researchers attribute this to what they call a “backlash effect,” or an an increase in hostility toward women following the #MeToo moment.

“Organizations should also pay attention to gender harassment, including bullying and sexist comments about women,” the researchers wrote in the Harvard Business Review. “One woman told us she believes that women who have been empowered by #MeToo to call out inappropriate behavior have faced more hostility among coworkers. It is important that organizations are aware of this, as constant exposure to gender harassment can be just as damaging to women as the most egregious forms of sexual harassment.”

An uptick in gender harassment is even more worrisome, given research that LeanIn.Org and SurveyMonkey released a few months ago that found 60 percent of male managers admitted to feeling uncomfortable participating in common workplace activities with a woman. Those fears could affect mentorship and support for women at work, barring their opportunities to prove themselves and move up if their managers are male. Between that and the gender-based harassment that this report illuminates, it’s clear that there are still post-#MeToo hurdles to navigate, and plenty of work to be done on the part of employers and work organizations.



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Big Little Lies Is Having the Tough Conversations About Sexual Assault


Hearing that your dead son was a serial abuser is a lot for a mother to process; hopefully, after having some time, Mary Louise will be less reactive and defensive with Celeste. This scene made me think about a terrible experience of my own. In college, a man at a party asked me to stay and sleep with him, of which I refused. He followed me into the hallway, pinned me against the wall, and forced his hand inside me. When I escaped his grip, I walked home crying.

To this day, I’m still friendly with his sister, who often calls her brother her favorite person and holds him to the same high regards as Mary Louise holds Perry. I often wonder what my friend, the man’s sister, would say or think if I ever opened up to her about what happened with her brother. I know it wouldn’t be pretty, and I also know she wouldn’t believe me. Why believe someone you barely know over the person you grew up with and love with your whole heart? So, I was very affected by this particular scene.

Another gutting moment in Sunday’s episode transpired when Jane tells Ziggy about his real father, Perry. Like the twins, Ziggy also found out at school that his real father was Perry. When Jane confronts Ziggy about why he didn’t ask her about it, he says he figured she wouldn’t tell the truth. Ziggy then says he heard Jane was “salted.” Through tears, Jane tells him she thinks the word he heard was “assault,” and proceeds to open up about her experience.

Woodley told Vanity Fair that she didn’t consult experts about this scene, but rather went in somewhat unrehearsed to see what emotions poured out of her. “For me in that scene, it really was, how do you allow yourself to be in complete shock and be an adult in a situation where you yourself feel like a vulnerable child?” Talking to a child about rape isn’t something we often see on TV; Big Little Lies infused this scene with empathy, juxtaposing childlike innocence with adult trauma. Jane’s decision here is layered and realistic, and one that many survivors and mothers have had to make in their own lives, too.

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Both Jane and Celeste’s admissions cause them trouble later in the episode. Mary Louise says she’s going to the police with what Celeste has told her, as it’s pertinent information that wasn’t disclosed during investigations. Jane’s confession puts her at odds with Celeste because they made a previous agreement not to tell their children the truth about Perry. Celeste’s twins ask their mother if Perry was a bad man, and she chooses the opposite path of Jane, saying that Perry made mistakes but was a good man. It’s another thorny issue: Jane was tired of lying to her son, which created distance between them. But Ziggy’s knowledge is a threat to Celeste’s sons, who could easily find out that their father was a rapist and abuser. That’s a lot for children to comprehend.



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Judge Faces Suspension for Asking Woman in Sexual Assault Case If She 'Closed Her Legs'


New Jersey Superior Court Judge John F. Russo Jr. is facing suspension after he reportedly asked a woman seeking a restraining order if she tried to prevent her alleged sexual assault by closing her legs.

According to The New York Times, an advisory committee found that the displayed behavior that was “not only discourteous and inappropriate but also egregious given the potential for those questions to re-victimize the plaintiff.” Members collectively recommended a three-month suspension without pay, as well as courtroom demeanor training.

Russo claims he was only trying to get more information, not humiliate her. However, after reading the transcript from the woman’s initial 2016 hearing, it’s clear his line of questioning was harmful and beyond insulting.

You can read the transcript below, as reported by the New York Times:

“Do you know how to stop somebody from having intercourse with you?”
Judge Russo asked the woman.

“Yes,” she replied.

“How would you do that?” the judge asked.

The woman said she would try to physically harm the attacker and say
“no,” to which Judge Russo asked, “What else?”

The woman said she would ask the person to stop, to which Judge Russo
again asked, “What else?”

She then said she would run away.

Russo then continues onward in victim-shaming territory, asking the woman once again what she could have done to prevent herself from getting sexually assaulted—and then offering his own suggestions.

“Run away, get away,” he said. “Anything else?”

“Block your body parts?” Judge Russo added. “Close your legs? Call the
police? Did you do any of those things?”

The plaintiff had come before Russo to get a restraining order against a man whom she not only alleges raped her but, per the Times, also allegedly threatened her life and made inappropriate comments to their child. Russo ultimately denied the woman’s request for a restraining order, according to the Washington Post, adding that her answers to his re-victimizing questions played into his decision-making.

Russo was put on administrative leave in 2017; however, the judicial conduct committee recommending his suspension also accuses Russo of three more counts of courtroom misconduct pertaining to different cases.

“Judge Russo looks forward to a public hearing in which he will be able to respond to the allegations against him,” his lawyer told a local NBC station in March 2018. “We have respect for the process as well as the advisory committee on judicial conduct, and therefore won’t comment further.”



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Emma Thompson Quit ‘Luck’ After an Alleged Sexual Harasser John Lasseter Joined the Project


Since the Harvey Weinstein story broke in the fall of 2017, a steady stream of powerful (and often famous) men have been accused of sexual misconduct. But the era of #MeToo has also seen a cycle of redemption and comebacks for some of these accused men. Louis C.K. is back doing stand-up. Ousted CBS chief Les Moonves is already working on a new venture. Brett Kavanaugh is sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now Emma Thompson has reportedly quit an upcoming film project over the hiring of one such man: John Lasseter, the former chief creative officer of Pixar. Allegations about Lasseter first became public knowledge in November 2017, though claims of a “whisper network” surrounding him existed for much longer, after he was accused of “grabbing, kissing, making comments about physical attributes.”

Lasseter apologized for his behavior, saying, “I’ve recently had a number of difficult conversations that have been very painful for me. It’s never easy to face your missteps, but it’s the only way to learn from them.” Then, this January, he was hired as the head of Skydance Animation, which is set to produce the film Luck.

That’s where Emma Thompson comes in. The actress was slated to voice one of the characters, but Variety confirms that she dropped out of the project after Lasseter’s hiring. Skydance has not commented on the departure.

She may not have released a big statement about this decision, but it’s major that a Hollywood A-lister of Thompson’s caliber is walking away from what is likely a lucrative deal in response to the hiring of a man with sexual harassment allegations. This is one powerful way allies in positions of influence can show support for the survivors who have been brave enough to speak out about inappropriate behavior.

We hope to see more of that in 2019.



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Sexual Assault Survivors on 'The Bachelor' Sharing Caelynn Miller-Keyes' Story


The following article, based on this week’s episode of The Bachelor, could be triggering for anyone who’s experienced sexual assault. If you or someone you know need help, call RAINN’s hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673).

On the surface, the fourth episode of Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor was entirely typical. There were two romantic one-on-one dates, a chaotic group date, a trip to a stunning location, and the usual “villain” drama. That all shifted, though, when contestant Caelynn Miller-Keyes opened up to Colton about being sexually assaulted in college. This was different from anything we’ve seen from the franchise before, and The Bachelor got this #MeToo moment right.

During her date with Colton, Caelynn shared every painful detail of her story as she described being drugged and assaulted at a party during her sophomore year of college. “I woke up the next morning completely naked in my bed and had no memory of the night before,” she says. “I had a small vision of a guy in my bed, and I just had this pit in my stomach that something really bad happened last night.” Caelynn says she later learned through a friend what had happened, and that another student allegedly lifted her skirt and took Snapchat photos. “It was horrible,” she says. Her assailant, she says, was expelled from school but faced no other charges.

Caelynn explained that she tried to get a rape kit but said she was turned away from the first hospital she visited. “The reporting process is a lot more difficult than people realize. I had no idea what to do,” she told People in a later interview. “I was completely stranded, I was completely alone. I didn’t even think it was possible to be turned away from a hospital. Thankfully, I had a good support system and people went to a second hospital with me and I was able to get a rape kit and speak to authorities and go through that process. But it’s a lot more difficult than it seems.” (In addition to Caelynn’s experience, there’s a noted backlog of untested rape kits across the country, which interferes with prosecuting perpetrators of rape and assault.)

Caelynn’s story matters for a lot of reasons—but in the context of The Bachelor, it hopefully marks a turning point for how the franchise will address issues of sexual assault going forward. After all, this show doesn’t have the best track record. In 2017 the spinoff series Bachelor in Paradise was steeped in controversy when a producer brought forward sexual assault allegations regarding two contestants, Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson. Much of the public discourse surrounding Olympios was full of slut-shaming, and while the series did attempt to clear the air with a televised conversation about consent led by host Chris Harrison, the entire situation left a bad taste in many viewers’ mouths.

Last year news broke that The Bachelorette contestant Lincoln Adim had been convicted of indecent assault and battery. Warner Bros., the studio behind the franchise, issued a statement saying the production was unaware of the charges when he was cast. But the show never addressed the controversy; Adim was excluded from the “Men Tell All” special.

But Monday’s episode was poignant for many viewers, especially those who are sexual assault survivors—and there are likely many of them. According to RAINN, one out of every six American women (and three percent of men) have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape. What’s more, the vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported; out of every 1,000 sexual assaults, only 230 are ever reported to the police.

Anna, 25, a sexual assault survivor who asked Glamour to withhold her name for privacy reasons, said she “couldn’t breathe” while watching Caelynn tell her story. Like the Bachelor contestant, Anna woke up after a party with no memory of the previous night’s events but later had flashbacks of being assaulted by a coworker. “I never got a rape kit done, and I still have no solid conclusion as to what happened that night,” she says. “I fell into a deep depression for a couple years, but I’ve been able to slowly come out of it more recently.”



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Ashley Judd’s Sexual Harassment Case Against Harvey Weinstein Was Just Dismissed


Actress Ashley Judd was one of the first women to publicly speak out against former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and in May of last year she filed a lawsuit against him alleging that her career was damaged by lies he spread about her in Hollywood after she spurned his sexual advances.

On January 9, a federal judge in California dismissed a portion of her suit, stating that her sexual harassment allegations did not fall within a specific legal statute. According to the New York Times, Judge Philip Gutierrez’s order was clear in saying that he was not ruling as to whether or not Judd as sexually harassed “in the colloquial sense of the term” but that the law could not be applied because she did not have a “specific business arrangement” with Weinstein at the time, which is a legal requirement.

So basically, the judge is not saying that Judd’s claim that Weinstein appeared in a bathrobe during a business meeting and asked her to let him massage her and watch him shower didn’t happen, just that it’s not sexual harassment under the California law because recent changes to the statue mandate that sexual harassment only applies if there is a specific business relationship between the parties. (The judge also did not state that it did happen.) That sounds like a pretty messed up law to me, especially given that Judd says the meeting was indeed about business.

Weinstein has continued to deny Judd’s accusations. “We have said from the beginning that this claim was unjustified, and we are pleased that the court saw it as we did,” Phyllis Kupferstein, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, said in a statement. “We believe that we will ultimately prevail on her remaining claims.”

Despite the recent setback, Judd is continuing with the rest of her case. “Nothing about today’s ruling changes that Ms. Judd’s case is moving forward on multiple claims,” Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., her lead attorney, said in a statement to the Times.



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