She Said

“But seeing our hard-won investigative discoveries help realign attitudes left us asking, Why this story? As one of our editors pointed out, Harvey Weinstein wasn’t even that famous. In a world in which so much feels stuck, how does this sort of seismic social change occur?” 

Early in the Prologue, Kantor and Twohey provide a guiding question for the remainder of the book. In the pages that follow they find answers that explain why their reporting on Weinstein encouraged so many victims of sexual harassment to speak out. The Weinstein story came out at a time of significant social change and an upsurge in feminist activism.

“Our Weinstein reporting took place at a time of accusations of ‘fake news,’ as the very notion of a national consensus on truth seemed to be fracturing. But the impact of the Weinstein revelations was so great in part because we and other journalists were able to establish a clear and overwhelming body of evidence of wrongdoing.” 

The authors contextualize their investigative journalism. Not only were they up against the powerful machine that Harvey Weinstein had created, but they also faced an incredulous public that questioned the very truth of factual news reporting. Nevertheless, they successfully proved that Weinstein committed multiple assaults through the use of extensive written, legal, and financial records, as well as on-the-record interviews with victims. This sort of evidence is especially important in cases of sexual harassment and assault, where sexist biases may otherwise lead people to discount survivors’ stories.

“The book toggles between what we learned during the course of our original work on Weinstein in 2017 and the substantial amount of information we’ve gathered since. Much of the new reporting we present about Weinstein helps illustrate how the legal system and corporate culture has served to silence victims and still inhibits change. Businesses are co-opted into protecting predators. Some advocates for women profit from a settlement system that covers up misdeeds. Many people who glimpse the problem—like Bob Weinstein, Harvey’s brother and business partner, who granted extensive interviews for this book—do little to try to stop it.” 

Kantor and Twohey explain the book’s organization and purpose. They continued to investigate Weinstein after their initial articles were published in The New York Times in 2017, resulting in the book’s publication. They also reveal that their work is not simply about an individual or set of accusations against him; the Weinstein story serves as a case study of a flawed US legal system that fails to get justice for victims and of a culture that enables sexual predators to engage in abuse for years.