But will that lead to a permanent change in behaviour?
FOR those who care about a woman’s right to lead her life unmolested, 2017 began badly. A man accused of groping several women took office in the White House. (Donald Trump dismissed the allegations—as well as a tape of him boasting about his behaviour, which he called mere “locker-room talk”.)
The year is ending somewhat better. In October Harvey Weinstein, a film producer, was accused of having spent decades harassing and assaulting actresses, and using his exalted position in Hollywood to intimidate and silence anyone who got in his way. He was forced out of the firm he co-founded and is being investigated by police. Further accusations against other powerful men followed, spreading beyond Hollywood into politics, journalism and the tech industry. Dozens were sacked or stepped down. （有数十人被解雇或提出辞职） Millions of women were inspired to share their own experience of harassment, using the hashtags #MeToo, #YoTambien, #BalanceTonPorc and so on. In a fitting end to a year of comeuppances（因果报应）, Roy Moore, who is accused of harassment and assault by several women, including one who was 14 at the time, became the first Republican to be defeated in a Senate race in Alabama since 1992.
#MeToo drew attention to a facet of women’s lives to which men had been comfortably oblivious. (“#我也是”让大家关注到女性的生活中曾经被男性理所应当无视的一面。) It showed how common harassment is, and how harmful to women’s careers. But the lesson from big social changes in the past is that more needs to happen if 2017 is to mark a permanent shift in behaviour. Even now, Hurricane Harvey could blow itself out（blow out，熄灭） and women at work once again be assailed（攻击） by all the old abuses.
Winds of change
If history is a guide, a new social norm takes root when a series of smaller changes prepare the ground (see article)（使...容易发展）. First an event galvanises（激励） a group of evangelists（福音传道者） to throw light on（阐明） an injustice that is acknowledged only in the shadows—the extent of domestic abuse, say, or the fact that gay people are accused of threatening public morals when they lead perfectly ordinary lives. Sometimes new attitudes bring about a change in the law, as with the introduction of Prohibition（禁酒令，1920-1933） and the reform of civil rights in America. But the new law will stick only so long as large parts of the population embrace it. Prohibition failed because too few Americans agreed that all drinking was debauched（堕落的）. People also need to see that transgressions（犯罪） are punished—either directly by the police, or, more often, by the mass of bystanders（旁观者） who choose to act either as enforcers or enablers. Most countries where female genital mutilation is common have laws against it. They are simply not enforced.
The signs are that the #MeToo movement has reached a delicate stage. The buffeting（连续猛击） of the past few months has certainly been cathartic（情感宣泄的）. It has also brought abusers in a bewildering range of industries kicking and screaming into the open. But the novelty of seeing famous men brought down will soon fade. Before that happens, both men and women need to come to a shared understanding of what sexual harassment is and what to do about it. If too many of them conclude that complaints are being exaggerated or exploited（利用）, they will not step in to stop backsliders（对坏习惯重蹈覆辙者）. Minor transgressions will be allowed to carry on. That will make it more likely that rape and sexual assault go unpunished, too.
Start with what counts as harassment. Most people can see the harm in a man trading a promotion for sex, in sexual assault or in crude groping. The divisions start with unwanted（讨厌的） propositions, leering（恶意的瞥视）, sexualised put-downs（性别化的镇压） and the like, particularly by a man who is in a powerful position. What men try to laugh off（一笑置之） as a compliment, or a joke, often feels like humiliation or bullying to women—and may well be intended as such. Accusations can cast a shadow over someone’s reputation, so the lack of clarity over what is appropriate and what is not can be unsettling. Men and women may wonder how they are supposed to know whether a flirtation will be welcomed or will be the prelude to a career-threatening exposure. A lack of due process（正当程序） only adds to the uncertainty.
Despite this absence of agreement, the evidence suggests that even less serious harassment causes harm. A study published in May, which followed the careers of a cohort（一群） of women in Minnesota, found that 11% had been harassed in some way in a single year. The victims went on to earn less than other women; of those who had been verbally abused repeatedly or physically touched at least once, 79% left the company within two years. That is not only wrong—in the way that all bullying is wrong—but also a waste of valuable talent.
Once there is a consensus about what is wrong and why, the new norms must be enforced. This is unlikely to involve a change in the law. Rape and sexual assault are already illegal; discrimination and bullying at work are subject to employment law. What needs to change is the tacit（心照不宣的，不言而喻的） complicity（共谋，串通） of managers and staff. HR departments often defend the boss—especially if he is seen as a rainmaker（呼风唤雨的人）, as Mr Weinstein was. Managers want to keep their star employees, even if they are toxic, because they appear to do so much for the team.
Those may turn out to be false economies（虚假经济）—certainly, they were with Mr Weinstein, who brought about the collapse of his firm. When you tot （合计）up the costs of all the women who leave, never join or work less well, the harassing star may not be so valuable after all.
A new agenda
To change behaviour, the new standards must be enforced. Women who make complaints should not be brushed off（摒弃、丢弃）, bullied into dropping them or gagged（钳制...的言论） by settlements with non-disclosure（非公开） clauses—one idea is that firms should be obliged to tell investors how many such agreements they have made. The entertainment industry, which appears so far to be an arch-offender（首恶）, needs to reflect hard about whether that is related to the lack of women producers and directors.
Ultimately, however, much of the task will fall to peers（然而任务最终会落在每个人肩上）. Men need to be alert and to step in where necessary. Women need to stand up for each other. Too many people have been blind to a problem hidden in plain sight. But Hurricane Harvey has raged through 2017 and ignorance is no longer an excuse.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline"The year of Hurricane Harvey"
原文链接：https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21732807-will-lead-permanent-change-behaviour-accusations-harassment-have-felled-some
