Harvey Weinstein is standing trial for rape again, 5 years after #MeToo went viral. His case captures the movement's growing pains amid new laws but louder online detractors

• October 15 marks the fifth anniversary of the #MeToo hashtag going viral.
• Coincidentally, Harvey Weinstein will stand trial for rape again this month.

In the court proceedings held since Harvey Weinstein's extradition in July 2021, the disgraced media mogul has cut a muted figure.

Weinstein, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape in New York, now stands trial in Los Angeles for 11 counts of sexual assault stemming from allegations by five women.

His walker has been replaced by the use of a wheelchair; his lawyers say he's almost legally blind; and last month, he broke his usual silence to say his teeth were rotting. He told the courtroom that a county jail dentist had left him with two macabre options: leave the teeth to rot, or pull them and leave an open wound to fester.

And as jury selection kicked off in his trial, his lawyers insinuated that they were worried about him dropping dead during the case.

He has repeatedly denied assaulting the dozens of women who have accused him, claiming all the sexual encounters were consensual.

While Weinstein's health may be diminished, efforts to discredit accusers are not. He's among the most prominent men to face legal consequences in the five years since the #MeToo movement kicked off, in large part due to the serious allegations against him. He's also among those who are still able to push back against mounting legal charges with a vigor overshadowing the optics of his ailments.

Weinstein's jumpsuit still represents a rarity among powerful men accused of sexual misconduct. Many of these cases still primarily play out in the court of public opinion — even when the matter is being litigated in a literal courtroom.

Johnny Depp's defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard captivated the nation earlier this year as the two former spouses relived disturbing details from their turbulent marriage on the stand while millions of people watched. At the heart of the case were Heard's allegations of sexual and domestic violence against Depp. The actor repeatedly denied the accusations, and in turn, accused Heard of domestic violence.

After weeks of testimony, a jury found both parties liable for defamation — but delivered Depp a marked victory in ordering Heard to pay him a whopping $15 million compared to his $2 million charge.

"Depp v. Heard was devastating to all of us because I think, here in New York we're about to embark on this litigation wonderland where everything's very game for survivors," said Susan Crumiller, the founding attorney of law firm Crumiller PC, which bills itself as "the feminist litigation firm."

The trial was partially marked by a boisterous online campaign of Depp supporters, who sowed doubt over Heard's testimony.

"I think even when we have all of the legal tools available at our disposal, people are still very, very scared of not being believed," Crumiller told Insider. "It's tough because you can't tell a survivor that it won't happen when you know it will likely happen."

Legal experts told Insider that in the past five years, the battle for victims' rights in sexual violence cases has made considerable strides. But certain setbacks, like Bill Cosby's 2021 acquittal on sexual assault charges based on a previously-made agreement, or online victim-shaming campaigns that run parallel to sexual violence cases, have taken their toll, too.

Five years of legal victories

"I think that just the fact that we're in the courtrooms now is even a positive step," Crumiller said. Tarana Burke, who coined the term MeToo and founded the movement, didn't respond to Insider's request for comment.

Several high-profile cases offer hope in the movement's strides.

• Cosby, one of the first figures accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women during the viral moment of the #MeToo movement, was recently found guilty of sexually assaulting a then-minor in California in a civil suit, and was ordered to pay his accuser, Judy Huth, $500,000. The verdict came after Cosby was released from a Pennsylvania prison when his conviction on sexual assault charges was overturned. Cosby has denied Huth's allegations, as well as those of the dozens of other women who have come forward with their own allegations.
• Major trials against serial child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell have resulted in convictions. Maxwell has appealed.
• In September, a jury found singer R. Kelly guilty of producing child pornography and abusing minors. Kelly was already serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted in a decades-long sex trafficking enterprise. He has appealed his sex trafficking conviction and intends to appeal the other.
• Also during the anniversary of #MeToo, "That 70's Show" actor Danny Masterson will also stand trial for three counts of rape against three women, and a judge rejected his lawyer's arguments that their statute of limitations had passed in the run-up to a trial which will reference the Church of Scientology. Masterson has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them "outrageous." His attorney declined to comment to Insider.

The legal landscape is changing from state to state

Crumiller told Insider that on a state-by-state basis, laws have changed and are continuing to evolve to give survivors of sexual violence more legal avenues to bring forth cases.

In states like New York, New Jersey, and California, "revival statute" laws have been enacted where statute of limitations laws are suspended during a window of a year or more, allowing more victims to bring otherwise expired claims.

The New York Adult Survivors Act, for instance, would allow former columnist E. Jean Carroll to pursue her civil sexual abuse case against former President Donald Trump — and she has signaled that she will when the window for expired claims opens on November 24.

And in California, the last half decade has been marked by growing legal avenues for survivors. In 2016, former Gov. Jerry Brown repealed the statute of limitations on any rape claims brought from 2017 onwards, and more recent legislation signed by current Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, AB 218, struck a statute of limitations for child abuse survivors for three years, also allowing them until the age of 40 to submit claims in court.

But online and outside the courtroom, harmful narratives metastasize

States may be changing their laws in a way that allows more survivors to come forward, but Crumiller said that social phenomena outside the courtroom and online could be hampering progress.

Similar to the support around Depp, an online pattern has emerged among fans of shock rocker Marilyn Manson, who has been accused of sexual abuse by more than a dozen women. Fans have sought to discredit actress and former girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood — the first person to go public with her accusation — as she has been vocal in the last two years, appearing in the documentary "Phoenix Rising" to describe her experience.

"When a victim wins a verdict against their offender, it can inspire and empower others to seek similar accountability, but when a victim loses in court or is ridiculed across social media, however, it can deter others from pursuing justice for themselves," Hannah Meropol, an attorney at C.A. Goldberg, a firm specializing in victim's rights, told Insider.

Manson has denied all misconduct and in March sued Wood for defamation over her allegations, a trend Meropol mentioned has become more commonplace.

On an individual basis, there is still much work to be done

Jim Willshier, who is the chief public officer for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, told Insider that the movement has yielded positive results, but that bigger changes on interpersonal and cultural levels are still needed.

"It always comes down to that first step of being believed," Willshier said. "I think the environment now allows someone to feel like they can come forward, and that they're not alone."

He added that one of the biggest takeaways in his work over the last five years is that more individual action is needed to stop instances of sexual violence.

"We do have a role to play, not just in not doing it, but intervening if someone is doing it," Willshier said. "We need more bystander interventions, and to be telling someone 'that joke is not appropriate,' or 'I'm sorry that happened to you, what can I do to help you?'"

"You don't need a hashtag to do that," Willshier said. "But the movement definitely helps."