Believe women but respect due process
Nicole Russell
In October, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer posted a video to X, formerly Twitter, saying he could now share text messages and video that he claimed proved he was innocent of the sexual assault allegations leveled against him in 2021.
Based on the accusations alone, MLB placed Bauer on administrative leave, initially suspending him for a whopping 324 games, though that number was later reduced. He has presented what he says is recorded evidence of a plan by his accuser to extort him.
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“The fact is I was never arrested,” Bauer said in the video. “I was never charged with a crime, and I won the only legal proceeding that took place, without my side of the story even being heard. And most importantly, as I said from day one, I never assaulted Lindsey Hill, or anyone else for that matter, so I sued her, which prompted her to countersue me.”
Bauer agreed to a settlement with Hill, his accuser, without any exchange of money. Bauer additionally retained his right to speak out about what happened. He now plays baseball in Japan but is hoping to play in the U.S. major leagues again. His representatives have reportedly had contact with teams.
The episode is one of several reviving questions about balancing the social movement to hold men accountable for sexual misconduct against women with the need for basic fairness against the accused that has long been a bedrock of the U.S. legal system.
Bauer may regain his footing in professional baseball. Many men will not be so fortunate.
Allegations of sexual assault, rape, predatory behavior, or harassment that have never been litigated or proven have nevertheless completely destroyed careers, reputations, bank accounts, and relationships. Such accusations are devastating by their nature. The #MeToo movement began as a way of holding powerful men accountable for misconduct that had long gone unpunished. But when these charges play out in the court of public opinion rather than courts of law, the economic and cultural consequences can be meted out without much burden of proof. Employers wanting to avoid guilt by association often cut ties due to allegations alone.
Bari Weiss’s Free Press published one such harrowing story, “He was a world-renowned cancer researcher. Now he’s collecting unemployment,” by Suzy Weiss. The stunning story recounts how David Sabatini, dubbed the Steve Jobs of scientists, had a relationship with a younger colleague. When the two went their separate ways, she accused him of being a sexual predator. Although, again, no trial took place, no criminal charges were filed, and Sabatini disputed any inappropriate behavior, he lost his jobs, fellowships, professorships, and access to professional societies because of the allegations and the fact that Sabatini neglected to disclose the consensual relationship to human relations. “I lost everything. My whole life imploded,” Sabatini said. “I became a shell of what I was.”
Comedian-turned-YouTube star Russell Brand built a massive following of over 6 million people. But when several women made allegations of sexual assault against him in late September, YouTube immediately stripped his channel of ads, preventing him from monetizing his account. Organizations associated with Brand distanced themselves. So far, Brand has denied the allegations, and one woman filed a sexual assault lawsuit against him in November. In a video posted to YouTube in September, Brand claimed the Big Tech platforms were suppressing his content in collusion with the British government.
Commentator Megyn Kelly pushed back against the support Brand received, especially from conservatives, saying that the allegations are “extremely detailed” and leave open “the possibility that the women are telling the truth.”
The delicate balance between providing a supportive environment for women to tell their stories while retaining some semblance of due process and the presumption of innocence for the accused is difficult to strike.
“Believe Women” is a powerful slogan that resonates with people who have experienced rape or sexual assault. By one estimate, 1 in 6 women has been a victim of rape or attempted rape. Women who have been victims of rape or assault exceed the number of falsely accused men, defenders of the #MeToo movement note.
Harvey Weinstein will always be Exhibit A for #MeToo’s salutary social effects. In December 2022, a jury found the renowned film producer guilty of multiple charges. Weinstein was convicted of rape, forced oral copulation, and third-degree sexual misconduct. In February, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He wasn’t the only one, although not all allegations involved filing charges and subsequent trials. The New York Times reported in 2018 that the movement had “brought down” 201 powerful men across a variety of industries. Women replaced half of them.
Nevertheless, research suggests that sexual harassment remains rampant in workplaces, particularly among remote employees. A 2022 survey by the Shift Work Shop, an HR consultancy firm in New York City, found that 53% of nearly 1,700 respondents had dealt with sexual harassment in the past 12 months.
Public opinion of the movement is mixed. Just one year after #MeToo, an NPR-Ipsos poll showed almost 70% thought it had created a climate in which offenders would now be held accountable, but more than 40% feel the movement has gone too far. In the same poll, more Republicans than Democrats thought that a person accused of sexual assault should be given the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.
On the five-year anniversary of #MeToo, a 2022 Pew Research survey found that 70% of adults said that compared with five years ago, “people who commit sexual harassment or assault in the workplace are now more likely to be held responsible for their actions,” and slightly less said that “those who report harassment or assault at work are now more likely to be believed.” The same survey also found that people thought it was just more common for people not to report rape than to make a false allegation about it, though they admitted that happens, too.
Responsibility for the movement starting in the first place falls on predatory men alone. But not all men are predators, and “Believe Women” left little space for this fact. “Trust but verify” didn’t have the same viral potential on social media. Weinstein’s convictions are cause for celebration. But other allegations leave room for doubt, and they will never be tried in a courtroom with anything like a legal burden of proof.
While they also may not lead to anything like legal consequences, questionable accusations have a social and cultural impact.
Inez Stepman, senior policy analyst at the conservative Independent Women’s Forum, thinks #MeToo’s excesses have hurt romantic relationships. “The #MeToo movement was always based on a false premise, namely that we could replace societal guardrails constraining both male and female sexuality with a combination of sexual liberation and tick-the-box legalistic constructs,” she said. “Predictably, the promises of the sexual revolution have failed, and the promised liberation has degenerated into a toxic combination of hurt feelings and a kind of mechanic absence of real eroticism. It was already illegal to request sex for job security, and it was already illegal to assault women. #MeToo added nothing to this but a legal minefield that leaves no room for the unspoken push-pull dynamic that makes up romance.”
According to the Pew Research survey, almost half said in reference to #MeToo that “the increased focus on sexual harassment and assault in the last five years has made it harder for men to know how to interact with women in the workplace.”
The question remains whether #MeToo has achieved the kind of results for women it promised in exchange for this kind of climate.
In the end, every victim is someone’s daughter, but every man falsely accused is someone’s son, too. There are important distinctions to be made between behaviors that range from inappropriate to criminal that are often swept aside in this cultural moment. That, along with low standards of proof, is sure to yield some unfair outcomes.
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The #MeToo movement was an avenue to try to make women safe and stop predators from committing heinous acts. It had good intentions and has made the world safer for some. In other ways, it’s labeled men as predators before they’ve had a chance to prove their innocence. Somehow, women must be able to expose misconduct, and men must get something like due process protections against life-destroying false allegations.
Good intentions aren’t enough.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a mother of four and an opinion columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas.