The exact moment the MeToo movement died.

After nearly two months of testimony, the trial of Sean " P. Diddy" Combs concluded last Wednesday, with a mixed verdict. The jury acquitted the music mogul of the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. However, he was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, each carrying a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

While many outside the court expressed disappointment at the verdict, Principal solicitor from Newham Legal, Sophie Newham, says the finding came down to how prosecutors chose to charge Combs.

"It does demonstrate the issue in a lot of criminal cases — it's ultimately up to the prosecutors as to what charges they proceed with," she told Mamamia's news podcast The Quicky.

"In this case, they were proceeding with the prostitution, the sex-trafficking types of crimes as opposed to physical assaults or sexual assaults. So, I think that's why a lot of people are outraged by seeing these acts and not quite understanding how he was found not guilty."

Cassie Ventura, the music producer's ex-wife and the woman at the centre of allegations, was reportedly satisfied with the result. Her lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, issued a powerful statement, saying Cassie "paved the way" for the two guilty prostitution-related verdicts.

"This entire criminal process started when our client Cassie Ventura had the courage to file her civil complaint in November 2023," he said in a statement, per ABC News.

"We can't forget that he has been found guilty of two very, very serious offences against women," Newham said. "I think that gives some confidence that the Me Too movement is still alive."

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MeToo might well be alive, but it appears injured, wounded by almost a decade of half-victories and back steps.

It started as a statement — coined by activist Tarana Burke in 2006 for fellow survivors of sexual assault — to understand they were not alone. It was co-opted by actress Alyssa Milano in 2017 on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and from there grew into a global enterprise, sending shock waves through every industry.

The initial hashtag #MeToo was a response to the assertion that if a woman was sexually assaulted, she should go to the police, not the media. Milano and others, including actress Rose McGowan, countered this by saying that law enforcement was not a viable tool in the fight against sexual violence and that anyone who had been sexually harassed and not reported it to police should simply reply to her tweet with two words: Me Too.

Within a week, millions of women and men had tweeted the words, and it turned into a global hashtag, #MeToo.

The debate about reporting sexual assault arose after two articles were published in October that year — one in the New York Times and one in the New Yorker — detailing allegations against then-powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who faced accusations of sexual harassment, misconduct, intimidation, and rape, some of which dated back to the 1990s.

Two years prior, in 2015, 35 women posed, sitting in chairs and solemn-faced, on the cover of New York Magazine, beneath the coverline "Cosby: The Women. An Unwelcome Sisterhood". Each one shared their story about the comedian and TV star, Bill Cosby, accusing him of drugging and sexually assaulting them — often while they were unconscious.

By 2018, many actresses — along with several actors —decided to build on the momentum of MeToo by starting their own initiative, Time's Up, and wearing black to the Golden Globes ceremony in January that year. Rather than taking their partners as dates, many actresses chose to take prominent activists who had led feminist movements before them.

Michelle Williams brought Tarana Burke. Emma Stone brought Billie Jean King.

Reese Witherspoon, who spearheaded the Time's Up initiative, explained on the red carpet, "It just became clear that with all of the news that's been coming out that it couldn't just be business as normal. We wanted to stand up and do something for all people to say time's up on discrimination, harassment and abuse in the workplace."

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Soon, more people came forward, and the movement expanded to include multiple industries, and it wasn't long before men started courageously telling their stories, too. It seemed as if real change was unfolding and then, like so many social justice movements before it, #MeToo began to waver.

Yes, there were public concerns about men being "cancelled" in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. And while some accused individuals faced significant media scrutiny or career setbacks, many of these consequences were temporary — particularly in cases where no charges were filed or convictions secured.

For every high-profile accusation that prompted a call to "believe women" or warnings that it might "ruin a man's life," there has often been a pushback — through legal appeals, acquittals, or reputational recoveries. The broader cultural reckoning, in many cases, has highlighted how lasting accountability can be difficult to achieve.

Harvey Weinstein appealed his sentence, and last month, a New York court overturned his 2020 conviction on one count of sexual assault stemming from a 2006 incident. He has indicated plans to continue fighting the remaining charges.

Bill Cosby, who was accused by more than 30 women of sexual misconduct over several decades, was convicted in 2018 of aggravated indecent assault. After serving nearly three years of a ten-year sentence, his conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in June 2021. He is no longer in custody.

Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide in jail before his case could proceed to trial. His death denied many of his alleged victims the opportunity to see him prosecuted in court.

Then, earlier this week, the US Department of Justice and FBI announced that Jeffrey Epstein did not have a client list and no charges have been filed against other individuals named in association with him. This came despite a judge unsealing part of a civil lawsuit in 2024, which included the names of several high-profile individuals alleged to have visited Epstein's properties.

But with each arrest, each public call-out or story about victims of sexual assault, more survivors gain strength to come forward. There is power in their numbers and change, though slow and sometimes wavering, is still occurring.

As Wigdor said, Cassie "paved the way" for other women in the Diddy trial, just as Ashely Judd, Rose McGowan and Annabela Sciorra paved the way for other actresses who had suffered abuse at the hands of Weinstein.

Australia now has stricter laws around coercive control and sexual consent and many Hollywood productions now employ intimacy coordinators on set.

So while the big cases that helped set the movement into motion may face appeals or be overturned, the impact is never hollow — because it shines a light on those who have survived and their stories.

Feature: Getty.