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A woman holds up a sign saying #MeToo.
- Moira Donegan has identified herself as the creator of the spreadsheet of sexual misconduct allegations against men in publishing and magazines.
- She invited women to anonymously detail their stories in the document, titled "S****y
Media Men." - Donegan said she lost friends after the spreadsheet went viral.
The woman who created a viral spreadsheet of media men accused of sexual misconduct has identified herself as journalist Moira Donegan.
In a piece for The Cut, Donegan said she created the Google spreadsheet - titled "S****y Media Men" - in October, and invited women to anonymously detail their allegations against men in the magazine and publishing industries.
The writer remained anonymous and lived in "fear of being exposed." She chose to reveal her identity on Wednesday after claiming that Harper's magazine threatened to expose her. Harper's has denied this.
The Google document - originally created as a private document - was first exposed in BuzzFeed in mid-October and has gone viral since.
Donegan said she lost friends - "some who thought I had been overzealous, others who thought I had not been zealous enough" - as well as her job, although it's unclear whether it was connected to the spreadsheet.
She wrote: "The fear of being exposed, and of the harassment that will inevitably follow, has dominated my life since. I still don't know what kind of future awaits me now that I've stopped hiding."
In the wake of sexual allegations against Harvey Weinstein and the rebirth of the #MeToo movement, many male anchors, journalists, and editors have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct.
They include: NBC host Matt Lauer, veteran TV journalist Charlie Rose, British GQ political correspondent Rupert Myers, and British freelance reporter Sam Kriss. Last month, The New York Times also detailed harrowing allegations of sexual harassment at Vice Media.
Read Donegan's full piece in The Cut.
In October, I made a google document. My life has been strange and sometimes frightening ever since. I wrote about it for @TheCut. https://t.co/wj8vkvawL4
- Moira Donegan (@MoiraDonegan) January 11, 2018