As a gen X feminist who survived and ignored a violent assault in the 80s, I didn’t identify as a victim – but #MeToo gave me a crucial new perspective

In the scorching summer of 1987, young, invincible and hungry for adventure, I left my cloistered life at the University of Sydney to hitchhike to Darwin. I wanted to discover the “real” Australia, that classless utopia of rugged, self-made blokes in the Foster’s ads; the quixotic outback of explorers and mavericks celebrated by Xavier Herbert and Patrick White. Hitchhiking for art was a masculine pursuit, mythologised by Jack Kerouac and the beatniks. I wanted to update their 60s machismo with some brazenly female 80s cool. I would document my 8,000km trip, return to Sydney unscathed, and write a novel. Or so I thought.

My companion, Andrew Peisley, and I hit the highway at Lithgow, armed with a tarp, seven books and a guitar. We’d survive on Peisley’s dole cheque and busk for counter-meals in pubs along the way. We agreed to remain platonic, accept every lift that got us closer to Darwin, and never split up. Four days in, at a Cunnamulla roadhouse, our rules imploded. I was kidnapped by truckies. Four of them, driving two road trains in convoy. They couldn’t fit us both in one truck so they offered to take me in the first and Peisley in the second. I climbed, just as Kerouac would, into the first rig and we drove off. But when Peisley approached the second truck, the driver slammed the door in his face.

Years of work by alleged victims and advocates have led to an investigation of the mogul and a suit against Russell Simmons

Last week, the world watched as agents of the US Department of Homeland Security dramatically raided two properties – one in Miami and one in Los Angeles – belonging to the music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, as part of an ongoing investigation into sex-trafficking allegations.

What fewer people probably knew was that just a couple of weeks earlier, the former hip-hop executive Drew Dixon had tracked down another industry legend, Russell Simmons, to serve him with a defamation lawsuit relating to her own alleged history of abuse at Simmons’s hands.

A Michael Jackson jukebox musical has just opened – with no mention of sexual allegations – and a biopic is coming. What makes some celebrities immune to cancel culture? We examine who gets ostracised and who doesn’t

Was a Michael Jackson jukebox musical really such a good idea? When MJ the Musical opened in London last week, it was praised for its gravity-defying dancing and raft of floor-filling megahits. But one glaring oversight was unfailingly remarked upon. “In MJ,” ran the New York Times headline, “no one’s looking at The Man in the Mirror.” The show, it added, told the story of Jackson, “except for the big story”. As Anya Ryan put it in the Guardian’s two-star review : “It is hard to ignore the repeated allegations of child sexual abuse. Yet Lynn Nottage’s script does just that.”

Almost five years after Leaving Neverland, in which two men accused Jackson of sexually abusing them when they were children, it seems not everyone has got the message that the star is “cancelled”. In fact, to all intents and purposes, Jackson is not cancelled at all. That’s certainly what the money suggests, with Sony recently buying half of his back catalogue for a figure believed to be around £500m. Then there’s a forthcoming biopic starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar in the lead role. According to Billboard, the Jackson estate earns around £60m a year from his music, royalties, theatrical shows and merchandise.

The Gulf state is the new chair of a UN women’s commission. That reflects a bigger issue as governments attack or fail to prioritise gender equality

Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing declaration , a landmark blueprint for advancing women’s rights. It marked the mainstreaming of feminist concerns, with 189 states signing up to the text at a conference in China, where Hillary Clinton, then first lady of the US, declared that “women’s rights are human rights”.

Yet when the United Nations celebrates that achievement, its commission for promoting and evaluating progress on gender equality will be steered by Saudi Arabia . A country known for its abysmal record on women’s rights was chosen unopposed this week to chair the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Even the personal status law it brandishes as a sign of progress in fact enshrines discrimination including male guardianship over women, and gives immunity to perpetrators of “honour crimes”. Women’s rights advocates have been jailed and there are multiple allegations of their torture .

She has played Janine in Ghostbusters since the franchise started, not to mention her star turn as Bo Peep. But, as Potts says, her life and career were almost over before they had really begun

The hallowed beige flight suit was not in the plan. “It wasn’t originally scripted that way,” says Annie Potts of her character Janine’s move from long-suffering receptionist to action hero in the latest Ghostbusters film. Potts has starred, however briefly, in all of the films in the franchise, including the 2016 all-female version. The forthcoming film, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, is the fifth Ghostbusters film in all, and is released later this month.

“It wasn’t until about halfway through shooting that Gil [Kenan, the director] came to me and said: ‘I think we’re going to put her in the flight suit.’ Of course, I was thrilled, because women can do everything that men do.”

Sorry/Not Sorry tells the story of the comedian’s sexual misconduct through the eyes of the women who spoke out – and endured a vicious backlash from fans, podcasters and fellow standups

Caroline Suh was once a huge fan of Louis CK, the comedian known for his semi-autobiographical sitcom, Louie, and a style of standup that explored his own worst impulses. Then, in 2017, the New York Times published allegations of sexual misconduct, specifically that he had masturbated in front of colleagues, which CK admitted was true. Suh, an American film-maker, says: “My immediate reaction was honestly, ‘Is it that bad?’ In my generation, when we were coming up, we saw a lot of bad behaviour and it was like, ‘That’s just the way it is.’”

Shortly afterwards, in a statement, CK said: “At the time, I said to myself that what I did was OK because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”

As a novel of the hit play is published, and with a new film version in the pipeline, Comer and author Suzie Miller discuss how the drama has changed attitudes towards sexual assault

After the opening night of the hit play Prima Facie in London in 2022, a young female producer came up to playwright Suzie Miller and said, “Loved the play. I’m one in three,” a line from the script referring to the number of women who are sexually assaulted in the UK. “She didn’t have to say ‘I was raped,’” Miller recalls. “It was this moment where I thought, ‘Oh, you can say that now.’”

“The hardest thing is for a woman to say ‘I was raped,’” adds Jodie Comer, whose solo performance as the young defence lawyer forced to confront the failings of the legal system after she herself is sexually assaulted made the play a sensation. “Women struggle with those words. To see people come and voice ‘This happened to me’ is enormous.” This month Miller publishes a novelised version of the play, also called Prima Facie: it is dedicated to “all the women who comprise the ‘one in three’.”

Activists call for Dominique Boutonnat to step down saying allegations undermine his ability to lead change

Dominique Boutonnat, the head of France’s top cinema institution, is to be tried in June on charges of sexually assaulting his godson, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The announcement comes as French cinema reels from a renewed #MeToo reckoning that has seen several big names, including acting legend Gérard Depardieu , accused of sexual abuse.

Actor’s landmark address comes amid claims arts sector has shrugged off sexual abuse for decades

The actor Judith Godrèche has denounced France’s “incestuous” film industry and called for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into sexual violence in the sector as she spoke before senators in the upper house of parliament.

The landmark hearing on Thursday – the first time an artist has spoken to the senate about sexual and gender-based violence in the French film industry – comes amid claims that the world of arts has shrugged off sexism and sexual abuse for decades.