Participants march against sexual assault and harassment at the #MeToo March in Los Angeles, November 12, 2017.(AP Photo / Damian Dovarganes)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.
Women are forcing a long-overdue reckoning on sexual harassment. The list of ousted executives and politicians keeps growing. The thousands of reports of sexual harassment on #MeToo keep coming. More women are emboldened to talk, and more are being heard. The risks for abusers—particularly public figures—are rising. We know the roots of this extraordinary moment; where the moment leads remains to be seen.
The reckoning is part of the fierce reaction to Donald Trump’s election victory in 2016. Trump won in spite of the ultimate “October surprise,” when the Access Hollywood tape confirmed what more than a dozen women had alleged: Trump is a serial sexual predator, admitting on tape that, “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything…. Grab them by the p—-y. You can do anything.”
A president is the nation’s great teacher. Women were not about to allow him to teach that lesson.
Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.
Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitterKatrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.