Publisher's Synopsis
In 2017, allegations against Harvey Weinstein prompted a worldwide witnessing of sexual harassment and abuse stories on social media. While #MeToo has empowered women, men, trans and queer survivors to speak out about their experiences of abuse, lawyers across the globe have got rich and busy. Like every progressive movement for change, there has been cultural and legal backlash.
Those brave enough to speak out have faced legal threats from those they accuse in courts that protect the powerful and the patriarchy. What happens when the law that is meant to protect us is, instead, used to silence?
Rich, privileged and powerful men have teams of lawyers at their disposal to suppress allegations and prevent newspaper stories from running. Individual women, frontline services, advocacy groups and journalists find themselves fighting against censorship. The weaponising of the law to silence survivors from speaking about their abuse, and anyone who might report on it, has been described as the 'perverse twist' of MeToo.
Leading human rights barristers Jennifer Robinson and Dr Keina Yoshida set out to investigate this global problem, drawing on the high-profile cases they have worked on and interviews with survivors of abuse. How Many More Women? will show readers just how difficult the law makes it for women to report their abuse, the impact it has on free speech and how survivors around the world can fight back.
