There have been multiple sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, an America film producer, in the past week and women continue to speak up about more incidents. The women involved in the cases have come forward disclosing everything from harassment to rape, and the women range from coworkers, to models and actresses. Once it came out that a few women have had unwanted sexual relations with Weinstein, more and more women have also spoken up about the harassment they have received from Weinstein.
There have been several different encounters between women and Weinstein, but the most common is that he invites a woman to a hotel for a business meeting, then convinces them to go up to his room with him. He has also had an assistant meet the women in the lobby and tell them to meet Weinstein in his room where he would open the door wearing just a robe. He has asked if he could massage them, along with taking off his clothes and asking them to massage him. He’s also told them if they don’t engage in sexual contact with him, they will not receive the role in his movie, or may not receive a promotion in his company.
He has paid off at least eight women to ensure that they wouldn’t come forward with an allegation. Weinstein’s representative told The New York Times, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”
He has since been fired from his company, The Weinstein Company, by the board as a result of the many allegations of harassment. There are also many articles and public statements exposing him of all the unwanted sexual attention he’s had with countess women; which is starting a big investigation.
Though these are horrible stories and these women went through traumatic experiences, some good has come from these cases. Recently on social media, women and men have been posting “Me too” as their status to show that they have also been victims of sexual harassment or assault, and are encouraging others to do the same. This is raising awareness of the amount of sexual assault victims there really are, and hopefully will help change people’s minds about speaking up about assault, and offer support to others who have also been sexually assaulted to show they are not alone.
Not all of these people have been involved with Weinstein, but it brings attention to the fact that so many people, the majority men, have gotten away with sexual assault because they make the victims feel ashamed. This is a major issue in our culture and it needs to be recognized that this behavior is not okay, and more women should be empowered, not afraid, to stand up and speak up about sexual assault.