NOW or Never
Tracey Spicer’s #MeToo-inspired social justice juggernaut NOW Australia has barely accomplished anything, despite massive publicity and media support. How did it all go so wrong so very quickly?
Tracey Spicer’s #MeToo-inspired social justice juggernaut NOW Australia has barely accomplished anything, despite massive publicity and media support. How did it all go so wrong so very quickly?
Buzzfeed reports:
It started with a tweet. Two years ago, journalist and author Tracey Spicer became the face of Australia’s #MeToo movement in less than 140 characters.
“Currently, I am investigating two long-term offenders in our media industry. Please, contact me privately to tell your stories,” she wrote on Oct. 18, 2017, 13 days after the Harvey Weinstein story broke in the New York Times.
It blew up. By the following March, Spicer had founded the organisation NOW Australia, intended as a “one-stop shop” where people who had been sexually harassed or assaulted could access legal and counselling services.
Next month, Spicer will accept the Sydney Peace Prize alongside Tarana Burke, the grassroots founder of #MeToo, for her work.
That “work” may be difficult to identify:
The organisation has failed to live up to any of its lofty promises …
Glowing media coverage of NOW promised a triage service that would direct survivors to legal support, counselling and journalists. But behind the scenes tensions were running high between Spicer and board members over what they could realistically achieve.
Spicer stepped away from the group, later saying she had experienced vicarious trauma. The triage plan was abandoned after a strong backlash from existing services and advocacy groups.
And people already working in the trenches of the sexual violence sector are furious, accusing NOW of squandering a moment they will never get back.
Hmmm. So what might be the cause of NOW’s inertia? How could a movement with such momentum so spectacularly fail to deliver? Maybe we can locate a clue somewhere in Buzzfeed’s copy:
What had started as a few emails between women had rapidly bloomed into an organisation with celebrity ambassadors like singers Tina Arena and Isabella Manfredi and actor Deborah Mailman, and a 35-person steering committee.
There you go.