NEW YORK — It was one woman, then another, and another, until a trickle became a flood.
Countless women, and some men, posting on social media that they were Jane Doe, in support of a young woman using that name to file a lawsuit against Cornell University and seven fraternity members she accuses of raping her.
For many, claiming the name came along with sharing personal accounts of being sexually abused and assaulted, joining the wave of solidarity that has surged since journalists at the college's independent student newspaper reported on the lawsuit filing late last month.
The impetus for some of those claiming the name was a desire to offer the woman some protection in this digital age, in response to those wanting to identify her real name online. They hope the flood of “I am Jane Doe” posts will confuse online algorithms.
Another moment of reckoning
The posts have come in all formats — video, photo, text — across the landscape of social media platforms.
The outcry reminds many of the energy at the heights of the #MeToo movement, which exploded a decade ago. Back then women posted their stories of sexual harassment and assault in the wake of a high-profile Hollywood case using the hashtag phrase, which had been introduced in that context a decade earlier.
“These moments … are encouraging more women to speak up and tell their stories,” said Emma Davidson Tribbs, founding director of the National Women’s Defense League. “They are giving people a level of bravery and comfort to come forward and speak their truth. And they can be incredibly catalyzing for change.”
Change is what Wendy Lea Brewer wants to see, and that inspired her to post reels on Instagram with captions including “I am Jane Doe” and “It's time to speak.”
Brewer, 48, a singer, has her own experience with sexual abuse and has spoken of it in her songwriting and performing. But she felt like she was “screaming into the void” and people were not paying attention.
Outraged after hearing about the Cornell case, she went online and found community in the Jane Doe posts.
“We are all right here feeling the same thing, and we have had enough,” Brewer said.
The Associated Press typically does not name victims of sexual abuse unless they publicly identify themselves.
The protection of the crowd
The use of pseudonyms like Jane Doe in lawsuits has grown in recent decades, said Diana Simon, a professor of law at the University of Arizona.
While the legal system is geared toward transparency, with the expectation that parties in a suit would be named, there can be situations that are highly private or sensitive “where it would be in the person’s best interest to remain anonymous,” she said.
But that does not mean someone's real identity would not get out, especially if people search for it.
That's why Kelsey Combe made her “I am Jane Doe” post. The idea was that numerous similar posts could provide a form of online protection to the Cornell plaintiff if her name were to be revealed, by making it harder to determine its authenticity.
“It was to confuse the AI models and stand in solidarity with her,” said Combe, a photographer in the Midwest.
She decided to do so after seeing a reel from a content creator who posts as “women_inamerica,” talking about how important it was. It had already generated responses from many women by the time Combe posted anything.
The attempt to sow confusion worked in a way Combe was not expecting, though: She later saw that AI had linked her as the actual Jane Doe, saying it was Combe that sued Cornell. She was able to get it removed, but not without getting a taste of what public critique can be like.
“It was an interesting situation, because the second that I sounded the alarm about it … a lot of people were replying, ‘Well, you asked for this. You participated in this. What did you think was going to happen?’ And I was like, ‘Well, look at that,’” Combe said.
It only emphasizes what the solidarity efforts are trying to show, that there are larger systemic issues to be addressed rather than just individual cases, she said.
“It’s standing in solidarity with her, but it’s also acknowledging that to an extent we are Jane Doe, I think the majority of us, because … we have our own experiences with sexual assault,” Combe added.
“So we are all Jane Doe until nobody is.”
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