Panel, Fireside Chat
What's Next: Harnessing the Momentum of #MeToo and #TimesUp
Milken InstituteAlex Witt, Ashley Judd, Kerry Kennedy, Catharine MacKinnon, Stacy Smith, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Caroline Biden
- Event Context: The panel "What's Next," moderated by NBC's Alex Witt, convened to discuss the evolution and future trajectory of the Me Too and Time's Up movements following the Bill Cosby verdict.
- Movement Origins: Ashley Judd credited Tarana Burke, who coined the phrase "Me Too" as a junior high community organizer, and Alyssa Milano, whose October 5th tweet utilizing the hashtag triggered a global explosion of the movement.
- Core Philosophy: The movement is defined as "empowerment through empathy," fostering self-identification among those who have experienced misogyny and patriarchal wounding.
- Statistical Scope: Conservative estimates indicate one in four girls is a victim of sexual assault by age 18; this figure extends to one in six boys and one in three adult women globally.
- Time's Up Financials: Time's Up has raised over $20 million toward a $100 million goal to fund its Legal Defense Fund, aiming to provide free legal representation for workers facing harassment, misconduct, and retaliation across all industries.
- Intersectional Focus (WOKE): A specific Time's Up spoke committee, "WOKE," was established to address the unique, compounded challenges faced by women of color, trans women, and other marginalized groups.
- #MuteRKelly Campaign: The WOKE committee launched a campaign on the morning of the panel to pressure record labels (RCA, Sony), streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal), and Ticketmaster to cease business with R. Kelly following his indictment on 21 counts of child pornography.
- Media Representation Data (Annnenberg Inclusion Initiative): Stacey Smith presented data showing female speaking characters comprise only 40% of television roles and less than 33% of film roles; in 2017's top films, 47 excluded Black women, 66 excluded Asian women, and 90+ excluded LGBT women.
- Industry Hiring Disparities: Only 4% of directors in a 10-year study (2007–2016) were women, with only eight being women of color; in music, female artists comprised only 22% of chart-topping acts in the last six years.
- Capital Allocation Gap: A survey of the 30 largest U.S. university endowments revealed less than 1.1% of assets are managed by women and minority-owned firms, effectively barring women from the wealth-building necessary to fund systemic change.
- Legal History: Catherine McKinnon established in 1979 that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination under Title VII and Title IX, a legal framework solidified by the 1986 Supreme Court case Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson.
- Statute of Limitations: McKinnon highlighted that employment discrimination laws often have the shortest statutes of limitations (180–340 days), which frequently bars survivors of historical abuse from civil legal recourse.
- Technology Solutions: The panel discussed "Callisto," a timestamped reporting app that cross-coordinates reports to identify serial perpetrators, allowing potential victims to connect and seek justice.
- Worker-Driven Model: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers successfully reduced sexual harassment in Florida's agriculture industry to near zero by implementing a worker-driven code of conduct, mandatory training, and an independent complaint mechanism.
- Hiring Reforms: Stacey Smith advocates for the "inclusion rider," a contractual provision allowing talent to mandate that production companies interview qualified diverse candidates before hiring, disrupting "buddy system" networking.
- Cultural Conditioning: Journey Smollett-Bell shared personal experiences of normalization, noting that harassment was often accepted as "part of the job" and that systemic racism explicitly blocked her from casting opportunities (e.g., being told a Black woman could not be the love interest of a white male).
- Corporate Leadership: Catherine McKinnon argues that effective change requires "institutional courage," where leaders explicitly condemn harassment with clear consequences, rather than relying on ineffective or performative training.
- Institutional Betrayal: The panel referenced the term "DARVO" (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender) and "institutional weakness" to describe how organizations often protect perpetrators and silence victims.
- Personal Healing: Ashley Judd revealed she wrote a national letter to survivors during a solo backpacking trip, emphasizing that healing is an "inside job" and a birthright, and that survivors must exercise agency to reclaim their dignity.
- Legislative Call to Action: Panelists urged the adoption of a substantive, intersectional Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to constitutionalize protections against pregnancy discrimination, hiring inequality, and violence against women.
- International Policy: Canada's Chief Trade Commissioner invited the global community to join the W7 (Women7) campaign, urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other G7 leaders to integrate sexual abuse analysis into all national policy discussions on trade, finance, and environment.
- Government Endorsement: A message from Senator Joe Biden was read, acknowledging his authorship of the Violence Against Women Act and expressing full support for the panel's work.