Leigh Gilmore
Cognoscenti contributor
Leigh Gilmore, professor emeritus of English at The Ohio State University, is the author of "The #MeToo Effect: What Happens When We Believe Women." Her research focuses on life writing, feminism, trauma and law.
Recently published
Reducing women’s rights — in the name of protecting them — is central to Trump’s agenda
To sustain itself, authoritarianism dismantles women’s autonomy, writes Leigh Gilmore. The frequent consequence is that women are confined to domestic roles and at the mercy of male heads of households....
Not all monsters look like monsters
More than 50 men were found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot. In addition to her own husband, the rapists included a nurse, a journalist and a volunteer firefighter, and they...
What is the role of women's anger now?
The anger many women feel about Trump's victory can spur renunciation and offer moral clarity, writes Leigh Gilmore. Anger isn’t the only important emotion, but it is the right response...
Fragility was baked into Harvey Weinstein's trial
The overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction in New York reminds us of how hard it was to bring the case against him in the first place, writes Leigh...
How E. Jean Carroll and an $83 million verdict finally got Trump to go quiet
E. Jean Carroll, one of more than two dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault, succeeded in holding the former president accountable for both abuse and defamation, writes...
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Five years on, #MeToo shows that survivors are more powerful together
#MeToo is not the sole measuring stick of progress, or an institution to exalt or blame, writes Leigh Gilmore. Instead we ought to think of #MeToo as a resource or...
Johnny Depp's strategy of destruction
Depp’s efforts to smear Amber Heard is a form degradation meant not only to dispute her claims, but to attack her so profoundly that nothing she says is credible, writes...
A basic and ugly view of women's rights
Nothing about women’s economic, educational, social, or legal attainment over the last 50 years is separable from the right to abortion, writes Leigh Gilmore.
Why the sexual harassment lawsuit against Harvard is important
The lawsuit against Harvard is a watershed moment in the #MeToo movement, writes Leigh Gilmore. It leverages collective credibility to show how a complacent institution created a culture in which...
Bill Cosby's Release Forces Us To Ask: How Far Can #MeToo Go?
How much can #MeToo accomplish given the entrenched power of patriarchy? asks Leigh Gilmore.