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Reporting on Weinstein: A culture change?

The list keeps growing. The number of women coming forward with allegations against Harvey Weinstein is getting larger.

The list keeps growing. The number of women coming forward with allegations against Harvey Weinstein is getting larger. Names like Angelina Jolie and Gweneth Paltrow are now part of that list.

This isn't the first high-profile case in the news recently. So, it begs the question, have we turned a corner where this behavior is no longer tolerated? Or do we still have a long way to go?

It was apparently the worst kept secret in Hollywood and yet no one did anything about it.

Now, women are coming forward to share their stories about sexual harassment, assault and even rape, at the hands of a very powerful man. A man who could make or break their careers.

It will definitely be a topic of conversation in Hamline Professor Leondra Hanson's Law in the Lives of Women class.

"Many of the women who are coming out now to talk about this case are secure in their careers, who are secure in their families, who are very secure financially, and it was hard for them so when you strip away that security you can imagine that the ability to talk about it decreases a lot," Hanson said.

Sexual harassment is not limited to the likes of Hollywood. It happens in every small town and in every industry across the country. But do these high-profile cases help push change in our society?

"I think one good result of women sharing their stories is that other women feel comfortable sharing their stories. I think the other reaction is a sense of collective outrage. This is 2017, this is still happening," Hanson said.

"And that outrage is good but the concern I have is whether that outrage turns into action. Whether that outrage can become protections for people to talk about this in a more structured setting. It's one thing for the women to be supported because they've told their stories, it's another to see how many people, even despite all these stories, are not being held accountable."

Hanson continued, "We need to do more in terms of changing not just the policy reaction but the cultural reaction to talking about sexual assault and harassment. How do we get there? "We keep talking about it. We take our conversations out of Twitter we have them with each other. We think not just about I am outraged about this, but this leads me to do what?"

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