The irony is, Dan was the only person who could wipe those doubts from my head. That’s why I was able to accept his apology. Because I felt vindicated, to others but more importantly to myself.

Was this something you were expecting?

Unfortunately, Dan is not the only person who has sexually harassed me. I was groped by a producer at a party a couple years ago, after which I made an anonymous complaint to HR. As far as I know he was never personally disciplined.

So, no. Dan wasn’t in the forefront of my mind. But before the holidays, I saw him tweeting about how he had been a bad person in the past, and how he was trying to do better. And all these people were congratulating him for being so brave and honest. And I thought, “No way does he get to skip past confession and go straight to absolution.” So I asked him to be specific.

How would you want people to view him from here on out?

I think of Dan as a work in progress. That’s how I think of myself, too. It’s dangerous to think of yourself as a hero and someone else as a villain. It gets in the way of empathy. We should be tearing down walls, not putting them up.

Women are not different creatures from men. They don’t need to be extra careful around us. They just need to treat us with the same basic respect and dignity that they show to other men.

How are you feeling about this exchange having been so public?

I kept all this pain private for six years and all it did was poison me. In my defense, when it happened I was a staff writer with no power, no credits, and no credibility. If I had spoken out then, people would have accused me of trying to make a name for myself. Or worse, they would have assumed I only got that job because my boss wanted to sleep with me. My career would have ended before it began. But I’m not in that place anymore. So when I saw an opportunity to confront him, I grabbed it with both hands.