But it was Trump’s win — and the distress it engendered in so many women — that set the stage for this moment of truth-telling and accountability-demanding. The ground is indeed shifting beneath us. But that has feminists like me feeling unstable too.

Finally doing something about sexual harassment is, no doubt, feminist progress. Listen closely, though, and you can hear a backlash brewing. It’s not going to be pretty. And we need to start preparing for it now.

Already, director Woody Allen, himself on the receiving end of molestation claims from his own daughter, has likened the current environment to a “witch hunt.” (Allen has repeatedly denied abusing his child.)

After a small group of women created an anonymous list of “Shitty Media Men” to formalize the mostly-female whisper networks that warn of workplace harassment, Victor Navasky, The Nation’s former editor and publisher emeritus, told Deadline: “I believe it’s very good to raise peoples’ consciousness about how women have been abused in the marketplace. But from my study of the blacklist and the McCarthy hearings, I think lists are dangerous.” He added, “In times like these, hysteria can take over that ignores individuals.” (Of Fish, who left the Nation Institute following harassment claims, Navasky said, “I have great affection and respect for Ham, and I am very sad.”).

Right-wing conspiracy-monger Mike Cernovitch, himself accused of rape and violence against women, has threatened to publish the whole media list. (The rape charge was dropped in 2003 but Cernovich was ordered to do community service.) He seems to be holding off only because his lawyers have cautioned against it — turning what was a radical if enormously flawed feminist effort into a weapon wielded against the left.

Roy Moore's followers are already circling the wagons, even as outside pressure for him to quit his campaign mounts. Scott Olson / Getty Images file

Meanwhile in Alamaba, Roy Moore’s supporters — and voters — have quickly closed ranks. Moore himself has threatened to sue the Washington Post; he also sent out an email fundraising on the allegations, arguing that the they were “the forces of evil.”

In the background, Facebook and Twitter have been full of liberal women’s stories of harassment and assault, hashtagged #MeToo. No similar movement has flooded conservative women’s social media feeds. Not because sexual harassment is a liberal problem (looking at Roy Moore, Fox News and the White House, it’s clearly not), but because progressive individuals and institutions are now taking it more seriously, either out of genuine dedication to women’s rights or fear of being branded hypocrites.

There exists no similar accountability or trepidation on the right. Right-wing provocateurs like Cernovitch realize that, and are happy to exploit it. This will likely fuel some ugly intra-left tribal alliances: When progressives see men they like or respect accused of harassment, and see those accusations weaponized by someone like Cernovitch, it’ll may get a lot easier to accept the “witch hunt” narrative.

Should a single one of these accusations end up false, or even slightly exaggerated, it won’t be big men who see their positions threatened — it’ll be feminists, and every woman who speaks out against a powerful man.