Me Too

We are seeing women who have stayed silent for years deciding that the benefits of coming forward are finally outweighing the risks. More men who have abused their positions of power are finding themselves held accountable. That's a change.

I suppose there will always be men who minimize the complaints of women, who dismiss statistics on rape as exaggerated, who suggest that when women complain of discrimination in the workplace they are just trying to get unfair advantage...

Yashar Ali 🐘 Retweeted
Dylan Byers‏Verified account @DylanByers 1m1 minute ago
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Today alone, 5 people reached out w/ sexual harassment allegations against 5 different media figures. This isn’t slowing. It’s snowballing.

A Canadian judge has come under fire for noting a sexual assault victim's weight and appearance in court.
Quebec court Judge Jean-Paul Braun also suggested the victim was a "little flattered" by the attention she received from her alleged assailant.
He made the comments while presiding over the trial of a taxi driver accused of assaulting a 17-year-old passenger.
Provincial Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée called the comments unacceptable and has filed a complaint.

I see what you did there, Engineer.

Sex assault remains one of the most under-reported crimes in Canada. But with only one out of every 10 sex assaults reported by Canadian police resulting in a conviction, is it any wonder that victims doubt justice will be served?
When Jennelle Polok was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance three years ago, she says she hesitated before going to the police.
"It was hard for me to wrap my head around - was this really crossing a line or did I just make this up I my head?"
She kept playing back the night of her attack over and over again in her mind. How she had tried to leave when he got too close to her on the couch, how he had thrown her against the wall, and then onto the couch before taking off her underwear.
"I just froze," she says. "It was like watching a movie taking place, where your floating above yourself. You can see every action that is passing, but you can't do anything about it."
After a month, she said she had to come forward.
"I just thought, I would never do this to somebody, this is wrong," the 31-year-old elementary school teacher told the BBC.
Police eventually charged her alleged attacker with sexual assault, the case made its way through a preliminary hearing and finally, to court.
After spending nearly two years in court proceedings, including five hours on the witness stand, Ms Polok heard the news - her rapist had been acquitted due to lack of evidence.
"I felt happy that it had even made it to the final court," she says, her voice rising. "I should not have felt happy that it made it that far, I should have felt happy that he was convicted."
Ms Polok's story is all too common, a new report from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics revealed on Thursday.
Over a six-year-period, only 20% of alleged sex assaults actually made it to court; 12% of sexual assaults reported by police led to a conviction; and only 7% led to jail time.
The proportion of sex assaults that lead to the accused going to prison is probably even smaller, considering that previous studies have found that only a fraction of sexual assaults are ever reported to police.
Once they are reported to the police, incidents may be classified as "founded", which means police believe a violation of the law took place, or "unfounded", in which case they are dismissed. About one in five sex assaults reported to police are dismissed as unfounded, according to an investigation by the Globe and Mail.
This most recent study by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics followed 93,501 sexual assaults reported by police as founded as they made their way through the justice system.
The chance of a sex assault moving forward in the justice system - from charges being laid to jail time - dropped by half each step along the way, the report found.
"Sexual assault cases experienced attrition at all levels of the criminal justice system," wrote Cristine Rotenberg, the report's author.

MPs who abuse or sexually harass women must be "held to account", Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will say later.
Mr Corbyn will speak out against "a culture where the abuse of women has often been accepted and normalised," including at Westminster.
Conservative MP Justine Greening said anyone who felt they had been sexually harassed should contact the police.
Mr Corbyn will also reject claims he was too slow to suspend a Labour MP for misogynistic and homophobic comments.
On Wednesday, Sheffield Hallam MP Jared O'Mara was suspended by Labour while the party investigated online remarks he made from 2002 to 2004.
Labour had initially said it would not be suspending the MP while the allegations were investigated.
It comes as Downing Street described allegations of sexual harassment in politics as "deeply concerning".
In a speech at the Unite union's Scottish policy conference later, Mr Corbyn will say that in the wake of allegations about movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the issue of sexual harassment is not one confined to Hollywood.
"Misogyny and sexism are widespread problems across society," he will say.
"Sexual abuse and abusive treatment of women by men is not confined to any one industry, workplace or institution.
"The problem doesn't stop with those who make unwanted advances on women.
"It's a warped and degrading culture that also exists and thrives in the corridors of power, including in Westminster."
Mr Corbyn will also encourage women who have been abused or harassed by MPs to speak out, adding that he would not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment in the Labour Party.
His speech comes amid reports that female researchers and aides in Parliament have been using a WhatsApp group to share information about alleged abusive behaviour by MPs from both the main parties.
And on Saturday, the Times reported that four male MPs, including a minister, have been accused of harassing or propositioning young women inappropriately.
Ms Greening, the Women and Equalities minister, said: "There's no place in Westminster for any of this kind of behaviour.
"Woman who have experienced it should be coming forward to be clear about what's happened to them. It's now long overdue that we stamp this sort of behaviour out."
The prime minister's official spokeswoman said any report of sexual harassment were "deeply concerning" and urged anyone with information to contact the authorities.