This we week are... hoping to change society

Ihave spent most of my adult life living and working under a certain set of assumptions. When I was a teenager it was assumed that when you kissed a boy he would try to “feel you up”, because that’s just what boys did. It was normal, too, for men to wolf whistle out of their white vans as you walked to school. You felt uncomfortable, but it never crossed your mind to report it. When I started going to clubs, it wasn’t uncommon to be groped at some point during your night out. If you caught the culprit, you might throw him a dirty look. Sure, you felt violated, but you didn’t want to be a prude about it. In the workplace, sexist remarks were common.You learned to bat these off with a verbal slap down of your own, but it never occurred to you to complain to HR. It was just “office banter” after all. But two years ago, the #metoo campaign, ignited by the Harvey Weinstein abuse scandal, made me question

everything I deemed to be “normal”. The social media crusade, which spilled into the mainstream, gave women a safe space to say, actually, this is NOT ok. At the forefront of this movement was actress Rose McGowan, one of dozens of women who publicly accused movie mogul Weinstein of sexual assault. As she prepares for her Edinburgh Festival debut and Weinstein prepares for his trial, Rose tells P.S. she believes what started in Hollywood will change society forever. It’s thanks to women like Rose and activist Tarana Burke, pictured above, that change is definitely in the air. I can see it when I share my past experiences with younger friends and colleagues (male and female). They look genuinely horrified – and that gives me hope.