Last week I attended a panel discussion at Rotman School of Management on the topic of journalism and the #MeToo moment. The panel was composed of the three New York Times journalists who are on the forefront of the #MeToo movement: Jessica Bennett, who wrote the wickedly funny book Feminist Fight Club; Jodi Kantor, who broke the Harvey Weinstein story; and Emily Steel, who exposed the series of settlements related to sexual harassment allegations against Bill O’Reilly.

The crowd was huge, filling Rotman’s large atrium. I was obviously not alone in wanting to understand the huge cultural shift that is underway and what contributed to it. Here are some of the salient and surprising points from the discussion:

• A backlash to this movement has not occurred. There is criticism and dissent, but not a backlash. Kantor suggested that backlash would occur if, for example, a very popular, influential male celebrity proudly announced that he grabbed women and that was OK. When someone asked if the President counted, there was laughter. Thus backlash for Kantor means complete abandonment of the idea that sexual misconduct is immoral or wrong.
• The journalists revealed that while checking and compiling the stories they broke, they were at risk and being threatened by the individuals they covered.
• The two men who were the subject of this reporting, Weinstein and O’Reilly, were titans in directing and shaping the culture that ignored and/or condoned sexual harassment and misconduct. This was a new and interesting bit of information for me.
• I asked the panel about the factors underlying this sudden and rapid culture shift. The basis for this question was that I had heard that day that the tipping point for change in the US is when 70% or more of millennials are in favour of the change. This happened with gay marriages, and perhaps might happen with regard to gun control. Jessica Bennet said she thought millennials did not want to be treated as their mothers had been, and that social media was being used as their platform of choice to take a stand due to the historical lack of response from more traditional channels – such as HR departments and the courts.

The panel made clear that they don’t know where the movement is going but it has made sexual harassment and sexual misconduct very visible. It has also put predators on notice. This type of behaviour is no longer being dismissed as locker room talk as it was just a short year ago. And for that I am very grateful to all of the brave women who have come forward and to these intrepid women journalists who speak truth to power to ensure that these women are heard.