美国国家公共电台 NPR Women Are Speaking Up About Harassment And Abuse, But Why Now?（在线收听）

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

For decades, women generally kept quiet about being sexually harassed or even assaulted at work. But just in the last few weeks, hundreds have come forward with their own stories. So what's changed? Are we at a turning point when it comes to outing sexual misconduct? NPR's Elizabeth Blair went to find out. A note to listeners - her story includes some graphic details.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: Let's take a look at what happened to a woman who came forward at a time when people didn't talk about this stuff.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOE BIDEN: Committee will come to order. Welcome back, professor Hill.

BLAIR: In October 1991, all eyes were on a Senate hearing in Washington as covered by ABC and NBC.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: And they will be continuing the attacks either on Thomas or on Hill. That drama will play out until 6:00 p.m.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Anita Hill arrived in Washington under heavy police guard because of telephone threats.

BLAIR: Anita Hill, an African-American law professor, went before an all-male panel. She testified that then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANITA HILL: His conversations were very vivid. He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes.

BLAIR: In response, senators grilled her.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALAN SIMPSON: Why in God's name would you ever speak to a man like that the rest of your life?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ARLEN SPECTER: How could you allow this kind of reprehensible conduct to go on right in the headquarters without doing something about it?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HOWELL HEFLIN: Are you a scorned woman?

BLAIR: Anita Hill kept her cool.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HILL: It was a very, very trying day.

BLAIR: Today Anita Hill teaches law, social policy and gender studies at Brandeis University. She says by asking questions like, why didn't you speak up, they were answering them.

HILL: They were exhibiting the exact kind of behavior that keeps people from coming forward.

BLAIR: Shame, character assassinations - the episode took over Anita Hill's life. She was famously referred to as a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty. Years later, the author of that line apologized, saying it wasn't true. Crucially, there were three other women in Washington ready to testify to corroborate Hill's account. The Senate panel never called them. Anita Hill says back then, sexual harassment wasn't taken seriously.

HILL: You even had courts that said, well, these are personal matters and not any matter that the law has any business dealing with.

NIOBE WAY: That could never happen now. Literally that could never happen now.

BLAIR: Niobe Way teaches developmental psychology at New York University. She remembers watching the Anita Hill hearing.

WAY: Looking back on it, it sort of embarrasses me that I didn't see it as a larger issue that it was. I saw it as an issue, you know, true to that context and that Anita Hill was speaking her truth. But I didn't see it as a larger pattern.

BLAIR: While many people discredited Anita Hill, her testimony opened the window. Sexual harassment claims to the Equal Opportunity Employment Office doubled. Over time, awareness and coverage of sexual misconduct became part of the culture. Anita Hill...

HILL: Since 1991, we have been raising children, daughters in particular, with the understanding that sexual harassment is illegal and it shouldn't be tolerated and that it's wrong.

BLAIR: And more and more, we have scenes like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GLORIA ALLRED: Thank you for coming today. I'm attorney Gloria Allred. Today I'm here with two new accusers of Bill Cosby.

BLAIR: Gloria Allred works on some of the most high-profile sexual misconduct cases in entertainment, the military, sports.

ALLRED: I like women to have access to justice.

BLAIR: Allred thinks the reason so many women are coming forward now is a kind of domino effect.

ALLRED: The more women speak out, the more other women want to speak out. And those who have in their view perpetrated wrongs against them now are facing accountability in the court of public opinion. The wrongdoers or the alleged wrongdoers have faced very serious consequences themselves.

BLAIR: Cosby, Bill O'Reilly, the late Roger Ailes, Harvey Weinstein - mighty figures continue to fall daily. Did their accusers speak out because of the reasons we've talked about - strength in numbers, greater awareness, consequences for perpetrators? Reporter Ronan Farrow, who covered Weinstein for The New Yorker, told NPR earlier this month there's another reason women are coming forward.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

RONAN FARROW: A factor in their decision was that he was less able to hurt them - was one exact quote that was used by one. And look. You've seen that in a number of cases about high-profile men recently - that allegations only emerge when their grip on power and success slips.

BLAIR: But most everyone I interviewed for this story says the real catalyst started with the infamous video released by The Washington Post last year.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

BILLY BUSH: Whatever you want.

TRUMP: Grab them by the [expletive].

BLAIR: The "Access Hollywood" tape rankled a lot of women. During the presidential campaign, there were also allegations of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump.

JODI ENDA: Trump has reinvigorated feminism and the women's movement in a way that nothing has done for decades.

BLAIR: Journalist Jodi Enda points to the women's march on Washington the day after President Trump's inauguration.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALICIA KEYS: Ladies and gentlemen, are we here?

BLAIR: The women's march drew one of the largest crowds ever to Washington. Enda covered it for CNN.

ENDA: That was sort of the first inkling that we had that this really was something. Women were upset. And like the old movie, they weren't going to take it anymore.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KEYS: Feet on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Feet on the ground.

KEYS: Not backing down.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Not backing down.

KEYS: (Singing) This girl is on fire.

BLAIR: But clearly not every woman felt the same way. Forty-two percent voted for President Trump. It's also true that there are still plenty of women who don't feel safe coming forward. So is the fact that so many are speaking out now a true turning point? Niobe Way says no.

WAY: We don't address the problem - the deeper, deeper problem, not the superficial problem but the deeper problem.

BLAIR: That being how boys are raised, says Way. She's been looking at this for more than two decades. Her book is called "Deep Secrets: Boys' Friendships And The Crisis Of Connection."

WAY: We essentially raise boys in a culture that asks them to disconnect from their core humanity, which is their desire for relationships and all sorts of things that the boys articulate that they want - not only to disconnect from it but to say that if you are that way, if you're emotional, relational, et cetera, then you're not a man.

BLAIR: Way says that leads to a culture that accepts lonely and aggressive boys and ultimately puts them in positions of power. I ran this idea by some students at American University. Men and women alike nodded in agreement.

JEAN THOMPSON: The first thing that came to my mind was the whole boys will be boys thing.

BLAIR: Jean Thompson and Matt Goldan point to movies and TV shows that depict old stereotypes - "Superman," romantic comedies.

MATT GOLDAN: In the culture, you have a sense of toxic masculinity where men are kind of expected to have bravado, to be a little bit more aggressive in, like, talking to...

THOMPSON: Pay for dinner.

GOLDAN: Pay for dinner, yeah, absolutely.

THOMPSON: (Laughter).

GOLDAN: So right off the bat, you have a sense of very, very different roles. And I think it makes it easier for that whole messaging to get distorting in a way that could be conducive to, you know, sexual assault.

BLAIR: And not just sexual assault, says Niobe Way, but all kinds of violence. She says the culture continues to divide these problems as if their roots are different.

WAY: We look at mass violence, and we're all writing articles about mass violence. Then we have a rapist, and we're all writing articles about rape. Then we have an article about police violence, and we're focused on police violence without understanding that there's a common root across those problems. If you raise boys to go against their nature, some of them will grow up and act crazy.

BLAIR: Meantime, allegations of sexual misconduct and consequences for many of the accused continue to rise. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE END OF THE OCEAN'S "ON FLOATING")