Jury finds that Kevin Spacey didn’t molest actor Anthony Rapp in 1986

In January 2018, millions of women participated in more than 600 protests and events around the world as part of the second annual Women's March. The inaugural Women's March on Washington in 2017 kicked off a trend of protests, with Americans protesting en masse at thousands of events in 2017, a trend that has continued in 2018. #MeToo, #TimesUp and other women's movements are persisting and inspiring other groups and movements to use their right to protest.

In response to #MeToo, Hollywood celebrities banded together to start the #TimesUp movement against sexual assault and harassment, announced on Jan. 1, 2018. The movement called on stars to wear all black as part of a solidarity "blackout" at the Golden Globes. During her acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award, Oprah Winfrey said, "For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up." Harvey Weinstein accusers Annabella Sciorra, Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek took the stage at the Oscars to also talk about the movement.

More than 150 victims of former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State doctor Larry Nassar confronted him in court about the sexual abuse he subjected them under the guide of treatment. After he was convicted of sexually abusing gymnasts and other female athletes, the women and girls read victim impact statements during his sentencing, coming face to face with their abuser and being lauded for their bravery. In January 2018 Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexual abuse.

For its mishandling of the scandal and its institutional and individual failures to protect gymnasts from decades of abuse, USA Gymnastics also faced consequences. In November 2018 the U.S. Olympic Committee announced it will revoke USA Gymnastics' status as the sport’s national governing body. Facing 100 lawsuits, the organization filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which stops its decertification and all legal proceedings in civil court. This move has been criticized as a way to avoid justice.

Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3-10 years in prison after being found guilty in April 2018 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. Constand was among 60 women who accused the actor and comedian of sexual assault. Cosby's conviction came four years after a viral clip of stand-up comic Hannibal Buress discussing the Cosby allegations brought them to new light. Before that, the complaints against Cosby were an open secret.

During the 2018 election cycle, 25 candidates from both ends of the political spectrum have been ousted or had their campaigns derailed by sexual misconduct allegations, according to The Atlantic's calculations. There were 12 Republicans and 13 Democrats, with eight of those being federal-level campaigns. Former Sen. Al Franken left office in January, and Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned in May. Other non-elected officials have been called out as well, including Donald Trump's staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned in February.

In April 2018, Jodi Cantor and Megan Twohey of the New York Times and Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker won the Pulitzer Prize for public service. Their respective pieces on Harvey Weinstein's decades of alleged sexual harassment and assault led to criminal charges against Weinstein as well as the outing of other predatory men who abused their positions, wealth and power in what the Pulitzer Prize organization called "a worldwide reckoning."

In May 2018, Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York authorities on charges of sexual assault against two women, one in 2006 and the other in 2013. The charges include two counts of predatory sexual assault, with a potential sentence of life in prison.

The honorees of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize reflected the world's focus on #MeToo and preventing sexual violence. Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Iraqi Yazidi activist Nadia Murad were jointly awarded the prize in December 2018 "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict." Mukwege has spent 20 years treating and counseling women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, earning him the nickname "the man who mends women." Murad was kidnapped, raped and tortured by Islamic State militants. After escaping, she became a human rights activist against genocide and wartime sexual violence.

While Hollywood is where stories first broke, the domino effect of #MeToo has affected tech, business and the world of sports. Perhaps the biggest sports star to face scrutiny is one of the highest-paid soccer players in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese Juventus player was accused of rape in 2009. The ensuing case and settlement received little attention, and German newspaper Der Spiegel was the only major outlet to report on it with a story in 2017. But with the cultural shift of #MeToo, the victim was inspired to come forward with her story again and filed a suit to reopen the case in 2018. This time, her accusations made waves and international headlines.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin. CBS CEO Les Moonves. Metropolitan Opera Director James Levine. Pixar and Walt Disney Animation CCO John Lasseter. These are just a few of the men across the industries of tech, fashion, media, the arts and more who were fired or resigned in 2018 over accusations of sexual misconduct. According to a New York-based crisis consulting firm, more than 400 high-profile executives and employees were outed by the #MeToo Movement through June 2018.

One of the year's biggest resignations was that of CBS chairman and CEO Les Moonves. Following his Harvey Weinstein piece, Ronan Farrow published a story that detailed six allegations of sexual misconduct against Moonves. Six more women came forward with allegations of harassment and assault. Moonves was forced to step down, and CBS announced he would not get his $120 million severance payment.

Throughout his career, singer R. Kelly has faced allegations of sexual misconduct. Since he illegally married a 15-year-old Aaliyah in 1994, Kelly has been accused of predatory behavior toward underage girls. He's been sued multiple times in civil court, accused of running a "sex cult," indicted on 21 felony counts of child pornography and arrested for possession of child pornography. Even more allegations came to light in 2018, leading activists to launch a #MuteRKelly protest campaign calling on companies to cut ties with Kelly. Celebrities such as John Legend, Ava DuVernay and Viola Davis supported the campaign. Some streaming services stopped promoting his music in playlists, and a Chicago performance was canceled. R. Kelly denies all the accusations and remains defiant.

After accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a high school party in 1982, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. More than 20 million people around the world tuned in to the hearing, in which Ford and Kavanaugh both testified. Despite not stopping his confirmation, Ford did force a delay on the vote for a brief FBI investigation.

The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements helped motivate employees to demand better workplace protections, including workers at McDonald's. In September 2018, hundreds of McDonald's employees staged a nationwide protest aimed at pressuring the company to implement stronger policies to protect workers from sexual harassment. According to organizers, it was the first strike in more than 100 years to protest sexual harassment in the workplace.

In November, thousands of Google employees and contract workers around the world walked out in protest of the company's alleged workplace inequality and in response to alleged sexual harassment. The week before, the New York Times revealed that the company gave a senior vice president, Andy Rubin, a $90 million exit package in 2014 after he was accused of sexual harassment. Organizers aimed to push the tech giant to set a new standard for accountability and transparency regarding the equality and safety of employees from underrepresented groups.

In 2018 the ripple of #MeToo finally made it into scripted media, especially television. Shows such as "The Good Fight," "13 Reasons Why," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," "Younger" and "Will & Grace" all tackled storylines involving consent, boundaries or sexual harassment and assault. The trend doesn't seem to be slowing either, TV show runner Ryan Murphy has said he wants to develop an anthology series called "Consent" that would be a spin on the Hollywood scandals of people like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey.

A spinoff of the #MeToo movement, #ChurchToo gained traction at the end of 2017. The hashtag opened up the conversation about abuse of power in religious settings. Many shared stories of sexual abuse in church settings, including Jules Woodson. Inspired by #MeToo, she wrote a blog post in January 2018 detailing abuse of power and sexual assault by prominent pastor Andy Savage. Savage, who at the time was Woodson's youth pastor, admitted to the encounter and ultimately resigned, and the publication of his upcoming book was canceled. Bill Hybels, head pastor of evangelical megachurch Willow Creek in Illinois, and the entire board of elders resigned in August after multiple allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against Hybels came to light.