| What You Told Me | | The #MeToo movement is complex. It's cathartic, it's traumatizing, it's confusing. It's many things to many people. Thank you to those who emailed me last week with your reflections on the movement. To those of you who shared your harrowing personal experiences with me, I believe you. Below is a selection of your emails, lightly edited for length and clarity. | | #MeToo gets discussed plenty, but societal changes have not even begun to come about. A good example is the recent Supreme Court hearings. Boys will still be boys. Political power is still in the hands of men, and when an incident arises, men circle the wagons to justify behaviors by placing the blame on women while denying all allegations. It is imperative that women take a greater role in exposing behaviors as Dr. Blasey did, even though she was met with derision. The women who stood against Bill Cosby proved that their voices can be heard and men can be punished for their bad behavior even though the incidents may have occurred years ago. It is with successful punishment that real change will come about and men will think twice before they use their power to assault women. — Andrea | | Movements take an enormous amount of time and energy. Think about how long it took for women to even get the right to vote, and how long the suffragettes had to protest and suffer. We now have one-party rule by a strong minority, one goal of which is to fill the courts with conservatives. I don't know where things go from here, but you can say one thing: Trump is either very lucky or just knows how to win. — Bill and Betty | | On a national basis, politics seems always to trump truth (pun intended), and women have achieved little for their bravery in speaking out. On an individual or small community basis I see some progress, at least in the sense that more women see speaking up as a viable option because there are some supports for them where previously there were none. Ultimately, as with any social change, it will be a cascade of one-to-one conversations that "win hearts and minds," and there will always be a minority fighting a rear-guard action against the changes, just as we are living with now. — Niki | | I believe the #MeToo movement has made a profound impact here at home and around the world. Women driving in Saudi Arabia and fewer honor killings of women in India are examples. — Abe | | Send your thoughts on this week's selections, suggestions and favorite reads from the section to me at Op-reads@nytimes.com. If you're enjoying this email, please send it to friends. They can sign up here. | | |
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