Prof. Martha Nussbaum examines the path forward after #MeToo

Leading scholar explores reconciliation and accountability for sexual assault in Citadels of Pride. As Prof. Martha C. Nussbaum watched the #MeToo movement emerge in a swirl of impassioned testimony several years ago, she was struck not only by the swell of attention being paid to stories of sexual violence and harassment but by the continued dearth of institutional accountability and the onset of "callout culture," the increasingly common ritual of publicly shaming the accused. The #MeToo revolution was important and long overdue, she would later write, but it wasn't yet producing full justice. Nussbaum, the University of Chicago's Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, was particularly dismayed by the ways in which three areas of employment-the federal judiciary, performing arts, and college sports-created "sweet spots" for abuse by elevating and protecting powerful men. What the movement needed, she concluded, was a clearer and deeper understanding of the forces at play: the pride and greed that lead men to objectify women (and sometimes other men), the ways in which criminal and civil laws have evolved (and could continue evolve) to better address sexual assault and sexual harassment, and the dangers of allowing vengeful desires to impede true justice and reconciliation. The result is  Citadels of Pride: Sexual Assault, Accountability, and Reconciliation  (W.W. Norton & Company), a new book in which Nussbaum examines the societal roots of sexual assault, offers a primer on the relevant laws and their history, and proposes reforms aimed at creating change in the three areas she identifies as the most recalcitrant.