Swalwell resignation shows that the default is no longer to shame accusers

The lightning-fast downfall of Eric Swalwell is a testament to the astonishing, often-denigrated "soft power" of public shame.

Swalwell was shamed out of politics in recent days after being accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. He ended his campaign for California governor and resigned his House seat representing a district in Northern California. Prior endorsers, funders and staff members fled. In a reversal of age-old cultural patterns, public revulsion and scrutiny focused mainly on the accusations about his behavior, and not on the women who accused him. As French women chanted outside the trial of the wife-raper Dominique Pelicot and his numerous accomplices, shame is changing sides.