Why fans of #MeToo-era book She Said should read this Canadian book
CBC Radio | Posted: March 6, 2020 7:12 PM | Last Updated: March 6, 2020
Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein was recently found guilty of using his influential position to commit criminal sexual acts. His actions came to light thanks in part to New York Times investigative journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
Their reporting, as depicted in their bestselling nonfiction book She Said, helped kick off the global #MeToo movement, calling for powerful men to be held to account for sexual assault and misconduct.
Our columnist Victor Dwyer has read nonfiction book She Said and has found a Canadian work of fiction that's a good match: I Become a Delight to My Enemies by Sara Peters.
She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
"The authors, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, put together a journalistic story and then a series of stories. This is really the story of how they did that — how these two journalists carefully and methodically reached out to women like Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and junior executives at Harvey Weinstein's corporation.
They established a pattern of predatory behaviour about a powerful man who, according to one of his employees, was pathologically addicted to conquering, sexualizing and abusing women. - Victor Dwyer
"They coaxed out secrets from them — and from within the organization on other levels — and slowly and methodically pinned down information from legal settlements, memos, personal letters and financial statements.
"They established a pattern of predatory behaviour about a powerful man who, according to one of his employees, was pathologically addicted to conquering, sexualizing and abusing women.
"They also kind of lay bare the story of corporate culture in general — how it's able to silence many victims in workplaces everywhere who are suffering harassment — and how it protects predators and bullies and blocks change by covering up misdeeds with these crazy nondisclosure agreements which I didn't know a lot about. What these two women did was uncover that whole system."
I Become a Delight to My Enemies by Sara Peters
"This is, in many ways, a book that's so unlike She Said. But that's why I love it. I Become a Delight to My Enemies is by Toronto writer and poet Sara Peters. It reads almost like the sworn witness statement of someone testifying to the misogyny to which they've been submitted; the perceptions and memories, by definition, have been jumbled and jolted by that same violence.
It's about 100 pages of poetry and fever dream. There are various female narrators coming and going. - Victor Dwyer
"It's about 100 pages of poetry and fever dream. There are various female narrators coming and going. Their memories were kind of delivered to the reader — not as cold. clinical journalistic facts — but as a kind of 'drip drip drip' of torment and persecution.
"If She Said drew us into the world of almost 'nerd-worthy' journalism, Peters pulls us down into this vortex of emotion, raw awareness and what it's like to live in the world as a woman on all kinds of levels."
Victor Dwyer's comments have been edited for length and clarity.