#MeToo update: OK federal courts haven't relaxed 'severe and pervasive' standard

Before practicing law, I had another life. I was a 20-something trying to make my way in Hollywood—going to auditions, taking classes, meeting actors, directors, and managers, doing plays and showcase pieces—and I had a few "casting couch" encounters of my own. Maybe it was my Oklahoma roots, but I wasn't interested in that life. After years of giving acting a go, and frustrated by encounters that left me feeling like "making it" meant compromise (and not the good kind), I eventually handed in my headshots for a law license and exchanged the bright lights for the midnight oil.

Another time, another place: January 2020

More than two years after sexual harassment allegations surfaced against Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement exploded, the Hollywood film mogul's rape trial began in January 2020. Has society's tolerance for sexual harassment decreased? A glance at the news suggests it has.

As a general rule, what might have been OK a decade or even five years ago just isn't appropriate now. Take, for example, the casting-couch "outtake" scene that used to exist in the Toy Story 2 credits—where the prospector character sits in his box with two Barbies, claiming he can secure roles for them in Toy Story 3. It was funny in 1999. And now, well, it doesn't land the same way—particularly with allegations of inappropriate conduct having been raised against John Lasseter, the movie's director.

Ripple effect

Several states recently enacted legislation to expand sexual harassment protections, according to the National Women's Law Center: