We’re raising money for solutions reporting on responses to #MeToo

If you care about issues of sex, gender, and power, make a donation to our fund to support journalists covering these issues through a solutions framework.

Good journalism takes time and money. Journalists have to locate — and get to — sources. They need access to data from government agencies, research from academia, and other stats to reinforce what they’re seeing.

The recent accusations around Brett Kavanaugh come right around the one-year anniversary of those against Harvey Weinstein, which ignited #MeToo into an international rallying cry. In that time, we’ve witnessed a flood of sexual misconduct charges leading to hundreds of firings, resignations, and suspensions of powerful men in media, entertainment, and other fields — and the birth of a revolutionary movement surfacing a reality that previously, consciously or not, we had chosen to dismiss.

But today’s news showcases how we need actionable responses, not just allegations, to move forward.

What happens now? How do we reckon with gender, sex, work, and power? Who’s working — and what’s working — toward achieving sustained equity and accountability? What are best practices for creating organizations, particularly those employing low-income workers, where sexual harassment is less likely in the first place? How do we create a healthier sexual culture writ large — one where boys and girls learn about sex from trusted adults, not the porn industry? How do we regulate online spaces where dangers misogyny is fueled?

In the upcoming months, Solutions Journalism Network will seed reporting projects that confront these sorts of questions. We’re aiming to catalyze powerful, solutions-focused investigations on this topic — stories like Tina Rosenberg’s NYT Fixes piece on a global sex education program, which — according to one study — cut the risk of rape in Nairobi by 63%. Or, stories like Erin Wade’s WaPo editorial, which details her restaurant’s simple, color-coded communication system for waitstaff to use when under threat of sexual assault from customers.

These stories aren’t about heroes; they’re about the what and they’re about the how: What are the responses that we have relied on? What’s working now? How does it work? How can we make the great ideas at work universal?

It’s not enough to uncover the truth, to unmask the many layers of a systemic problem. If you don’t want to live in a world where abuses of power, based on gender or sex, are shockingly prevalent, even commonplace… If you’re tired of seeing headlines about an ongoing problem… If you’re outraged enough and sick of being outraged… It’s time for some solutions journalism.

We’re already seeing responses — and coverage of these responses — emerging in many corners: in government, police forces, in theater and the film industry, in early education, on college campuses, in the development/aid sector, even in virtual reality, where a movement of survivors, public health experts and technologists is using this kind of “interactive tech” to shift views on sexual misconduct.

Many communities are crafting their own creative solutions. Even before #MeToo, female janitors began to organize around a campaign called “Ya Basta” (“Enough is Enough”). For almost ten years, HEART Women and Girls has been offering culturally-specific sex education for the U.S. Muslim community, and training outside professionals who work with Muslim women experiencing sexual harassment or abuse. In Native American communities, courageous women at Wind River Reservation are trying a totally new approach: delivering emergency care in person to victims of sexual assault. In Chicago, where 58% of hotel workers report having experienced some form of sexual harassment, a new ordinance is requiring hotels to give panic buttons to employees working alone in rooms.

Please support this reporting with a small (or otherwise) donation. And please help us spread the word (thanks, Gloria Steinem!), either via social media or in your own circles. These stories are important. If you want to help spread solutions like these, and ultimately make the next fifty years as transformative as our last fifty, we need more than public outcry and outrage. We need journalism on what responses have emerged, and what’s working.