So, this book, along with Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow are really credited with starting the avalanche that is the #MeToo Movement. She Said chronicles how Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the Weinstein story for the NY Times. I literally devoured this book in large chunks because it's very readable and ego free and lends itself to binge reading. The book itself is timely since Harvey Weinstein is in the middle of his criminal trial in NYC on sexual assault and abuse allegations.
There were many things that I learned in reading this that I didn't know before - how it was Rose McGowan's infamous tweet that caught their eye and began the process and how Lisa Bloom (who is the daughter of Gloria Allred) pretty much worked for Weinstein, helping him to discredit the women that she build her career and reputation helping. I also learned, although I wasn't surprised, that the two reporters struggled for at least a year to get people to go on the record - while they learned of many women that had been abused at Weinstein's hands, all of them were either scared or had received settlements (or both), putting the two persistent reporters in a bind.
The persistence of the reporters was inspirational as were the stories of the ordinary women who eventually came forward. The last part of the book focused on the Kavanaugh hearings - those hearings were ones that I was obsessed with because of what I do in real life for work and my interest in gender issues - they seemed to intersect in those hearings. I wish that this section of the book were as fleshed out and detailed as the Weinstein parts, but it was still really wonderful to read. I enjoyed this book and what it reveals about the power struggles, the ambiguity of sexual harassment reporting (by actual reporters and the people that suffer it at the hands of powerful people) and where we are at as a society currently.
Definitely worth the read.
There were many things that I learned in reading this that I didn't know before - how it was Rose McGowan's infamous tweet that caught their eye and began the process and how Lisa Bloom (who is the daughter of Gloria Allred) pretty much worked for Weinstein, helping him to discredit the women that she build her career and reputation helping. I also learned, although I wasn't surprised, that the two reporters struggled for at least a year to get people to go on the record - while they learned of many women that had been abused at Weinstein's hands, all of them were either scared or had received settlements (or both), putting the two persistent reporters in a bind.
The persistence of the reporters was inspirational as were the stories of the ordinary women who eventually came forward. The last part of the book focused on the Kavanaugh hearings - those hearings were ones that I was obsessed with because of what I do in real life for work and my interest in gender issues - they seemed to intersect in those hearings. I wish that this section of the book were as fleshed out and detailed as the Weinstein parts, but it was still really wonderful to read. I enjoyed this book and what it reveals about the power struggles, the ambiguity of sexual harassment reporting (by actual reporters and the people that suffer it at the hands of powerful people) and where we are at as a society currently.
Definitely worth the read.
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