美国国家公共电台 NPR Victims Of Sexual Harassment Speak Up, But Legal Fears Can Inhibit Them

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The experience of reporting sexual harassment 1 has changed radically 2 over the past few weeks. First, film producer Harvey Weinstein was accused by numerous women of misconduct and abuse. A series of other public allegations then toppled some powerful figures across many industries, and that list includes NPR's top editor, who was fired last week amid allegations of sexual harassment.

As NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, many victims find themselves holding a very loud microphone right now. And we should warn you that a minute and a half into this report, there is some graphic 3 language.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE 4: Until recently, Web developer Eden Rohatensky dealt with workplace sexual harassment and assault alone.

EDEN ROHATENSKY: I didn't know what would happen to me if I did speak up. I just - there was no way for me to know. The more times that it happened and there wasn't consequences, the more scared I became of speaking up.

NOGUCHI: Then, a few weeks ago, Rohatensky posted an essay on the website Medium. Her former employer, Vox Media, identified one of the accused as editorial director Lockhart Steele, who was fired.

ROHATENSKY: I'm glad that it did happen and that it's making an impact and it's helping 5 other people. I don't regret that. But it was surprising. It was very strange to have this type of closure in front of the world.

NOGUCHI: As more victims break their silence and discuss their allegations publicly, the power dynamic is shifting. Going public is a way of seeking redress 6 by victims who, for whatever reason, lack faith in the normal institutional channels. And doing so has the effect of rapidly shifting the blame and shame to those who stand accused.

JENNIFER LAWLESS: I don't think of it as public shaming.

NOGUCHI: Jennifer Lawless is director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University.

LAWLESS: I think of it as women calling out the men who behaved inappropriately and illegally.

NOGUCHI: For Lawless, this is a long-awaited moment. She recalls Anita Hill's famous testimony 7 decades ago alleging 8 sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas during his Supreme 9 Court confirmation 10.

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ANITA HILL: He spoke 11 about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals.

NOGUCHI: Hill's testimony was a big public moment, but it didn't change much.

LAWLESS: It was easy for that to sort of die down and fade away because, in 1991 and in 1992, we didn't have this instantaneous way of transmitting information.

NOGUCHI: Around that same time, in the early 1990s, Jaclyn Friedman was sexually assaulted as a college student. For her, going public meant etching her rapist's name on a list of men to avoid on a stall in the women's bathroom in hopes of warning others.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: It felt powerful. It felt like it was a thing I could do and that maybe I was going to keep somebody safe. Right? It felt like some tiny piece of power.

NOGUCHI: She says the outspoken 12 victims of today are extending that whisper network to a wider circle. After the Weinstein allegations surfaced, a Google document listing names and allegations against media executives and others started making the rounds. Friedman, now an author and women's activist 13, applauds that, but she says she herself has yet to name her perpetrators online.

FRIEDMAN: I absolutely think it would feel empowering. It would also feel terrifying. The reason I don't do it is because I expect if I named either of them, I would be sued.

NOGUCHI: And there are legal obstacles to making public accusations 14. Sexual misconduct is often hard to prove. People making accusations can be sued for libel, and so can those who repeat false allegations. Take Beth, a New York City woman who gave up her law career a decade ago after her superior harassed 15 her then retaliated 16 against her. She says she can't name her perpetrator because she signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of her three-month severance 17 settlement.

BETH: I want my name attached to it, and I want this guy shaking in his shoes. I want him to be scared, and I want the people involved at the firm who helped cover this whole thing up to be scared.

NOGUCHI: She says if she faced a similar situation today, she, too, would speak out.

Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

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