Had It Coming: Rape Culture Meets #Metoo: Now What?

Robyn Doolittle, Steerforth Press (AUG 24) Softcover $16.95 (304pp), 978-1-58642-289-9

Robyn Doolittle’s Had It Coming is a nuanced, unbiased investigation of rape culture and sexual assault prosecution in the #Metoo era.

Doolittle asserts that #Metoo never would have achieved critical mass without the signal boost provided by social media, but calls the digital pillory a problematic place for tackling complex issues. Diving to the center of this paradox, her book breaks apart some of the thorniest sexual assault cases of the era, examining the disputes at their core, from the gray areas of consent law to the neurobiology of trauma and how the internet can distort the pursuit of truth.

Doolittle is an esteemed Canadian journalist who spent years researching the high percentage of Canadian sexual assault cases that were dismissed as unfounded. Her investigation proved that such cases were being mishandled; it led to important changes within Canadian police departments. Had It Coming covers sexual assault culture and history on both sides of the border with the same rigorous pursuit of truth, unrestrained by politics or prejudice.

Doolittle is also a young woman who grew up navigating the rape culture that produced #Metoo. Her willingness to confront her own preconceptions, which were shaped by the internalization of patriarchal culture, is part of what makes her book such a compelling, radical, and truthful one. She poses critical questions; the text is okay with not having all of the answers. Instead, it arms its audience with information.

Its style straightforward and investigative, the book’s analysis is accessible, and the facts it delivers stand to force the interrogation of individuals’ blind spots. Had It Coming is an important text about how North American cultures handle sexual assault; it pushes progress toward durable social changes.