How To Make Better Men!

The #MeToo movement is slowly eliciting change in cultural institutions that help define masculinity

- Claire Suddath

The women who came forward with tales of rape and abuse by Harvey Weinstein set off a cultural earthquake the like of which hasn’t been seen since the early days of the women’s liberation movement. They spurred other women, many of whom had been pushing for years to be heard and believed, to share their own stories of sexual harassment and assault. Within one 24-hour period in October, more than 4.7 million people, most of them women, posted 12 million accounts of harassment or assault on Facebook, using the hashtag #MeToo. Almost every day another prominent malefactor is revealed. Movie stars and moguls have fallen. Lecherous journalists have been found out. So have celebrity chefs. And politicians.

Right now, the focus is on sexual harassment at work. Not so long ago it was about assault on college campuses. Before that, misogynistic online trolls. Catcalling. The fight for equal pay. None of these issues are new. It’s just that women finally have enough collective power to do something about them. Slowly, incrementally, their demands are leading to real change.

This has inspired a fundamental reexamination of the cultural attitudes that for so long have treated women as an afterthought. It’s a slight shift, but you can already see it starting to happen. Sometimes in the least likely of places.