Harvey Weinstein Sexual Abuse Cases picked up momentum on October 5, 2017 with a New York Times report by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey that documented decades of harassment complaints against the film executive and at least eight legal settlements paid to accusers1. Five days later, Ronan Farrow's New Yorker investigation stepped the story into criminal territory with on-the-record accounts from thirteen women, including actress Asia Argento, who said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her2. By October 8, 2017, Weinstein had been fired from The Weinstein Company, the studio he co-founded1.

The reporting worked as a public template that other outlets and accusers copied through late 2017 and 2018. Actresses, models, and production staff started naming other executives, directors, actors, and news anchors, and the pattern picked up the shorthand "Weinstein Effect"4. The story also pushed the #MeToo hashtag from a niche organizing tool into a mainstream news cycle and put Hollywood's use of non-disclosure agreements under sustained public inspection3.

Harvey Weinstein Sexual Abuse Cases are typically referenced online as a shorthand for the moment Hollywood's harassment silence broke. Writers often pair the October 5, 2017 New York Times story with the October 10 New Yorker follow-up as the joint starting point of the modern accountability wave2. On Twitter and in commentary pieces, the case is often cited alongside the Weinstein Effect when a new set of accusations lands against a powerful figure in film, television, media, or politics4.