Harvey Weinstein—the Hollywood mogul of Miramax and Weinstein Bros—held the position of power and wealth, winning 6 Best Picture Awards at the Oscars, and massively influencing the movie culture and history. He once held a fundraiser for Hilary Clinton and even employed Malia Obama as an intern. Harvey was at the very top of the pyramid. However, even before his sexual harassment claims came out (which dates way back to 1990), he was viewed as the notorious producer that garnered people’s respect more from fear than from adoration. Matt Damon, who once worked with Harvey Weinstein closely during the height of his power, said in a recent interview that he always knew that Harvey was a womanizer but wasn’t aware of the “darkness” of Weinstein’s behavior. A-listers like Meryl Streep, George Clooney expressed distress over the fact that they had no idea the level of sexual predation he caused. Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd and tons of celebrities have since then spoken aggressively about his way of coercive bargaining and payouts to shut his victims up.
Brit Marling, a victim of Harvey when she was collaborating with him in 2011, wrote an essay about her personal encounter with him. “Weinstein was a gatekeeper who could give actresses a career that would sustain their lives and the livelihood of their families,” she wrote. “He could also give them fame, which is one of few ways for women to gain some semblance of power and voice inside a patriarchal world. They knew it. He knew it. Weinstein could also ensure that these women would never work again if they humiliated him. That’s not just artistic or emotional exile—that’s also economic exile.” It’s infuriating that he manipulated and silenced these women for years, and is now trying to sweep away the ensuing sexual assault cases as if they’re leaves from his driveway.
But, of course, Weinstein’s abuses weren’t the only ones in Hollywood, and the stories coming to light about him have opened the floodgates for allegations from across the industry. People are speaking up against sexual predators and standing up in support for those who are brave enough to let the world hear their story. Scrolling down the list of allegations makes you realize that every single one of those predators is (or was) in a position of power and privilege.
Kevin Spacey, who was the brilliant star of House of Cards, was dropped by his publicist and attorney after his wave of allegations surfaced, and Netflix has cut ties with the actor. The Oscar winner, who was once admired by thousands of people including Ellen Degeneres, is now disgraced and publicly shamed. Ed Westwick, who played Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl, has been accused of sexually assaulting three women. Even though he denied the allegations on social media, many wonder why would those women make something up, risking their life and reputation? Andrew Kreisberg, executive producer of our beloved superhero tv shows “Arrow,” “Supergirl,” “The Flash”, has been suspended from Warner Bros group following similar sexual abuse accusations. And there are many, many, many more.
Jennifer Lawrence voiced her thoughts on harassment in the Hollywood industry during the recent The Hollywood Reporter roundtable with fellow actresses Emma Stone, Mary J Blige, Allison Janney, Saoirse Ronan and Jessica Chastain. She shared an incident where she was deemed by the director as “a nightmare” and “difficult to work with” just because she stood up against what she believed was unfair and sexist. After that incident she was afraid that she will never be able to find work again. This uproar in Hollywood isn’t just about the individual cases of harassment—it’s also about the culture that allowed them to occur unchecked for so long. Historically, the women of Hollywood have faced discrimination time and again as producers prioritized male actors and undervalued their female counterparts. Jessica Chastain shared, “I was sent a lot of scripts where it was a female protagonist, and they wouldn’t do my deal until they knew who the male actor was because they needed to do his deal first and then see what was left over.” However, there is hope that the industry is changing, as directors begin to highlight strong, female leads in their films.
This November’s annual actress roundtable from Hollywood Reporter talked about strong female roles and comments on sexual harassment:
Of course the conversation does not just stop at Hollywood—the media is just focusing on Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Bill O’Reilly from Fox News is because those perpetrators (and many of their victims) are famous. But that doesn’t mean that there is less sexual abuse happening in other places of work. The hashtag #metoo created a movement for people to speak out about their own sexual harassment and assault encounters in all walks of life. I’m encouraged and inspired by victims who are uncovering the truth that their abusers have tried to conceal for so long. Finally, people are creating a wave, yanking the band-aids off wounds that predators have so manipulatively tried to cover up.
This issue is deeply engrained in our society. We need to let men know that women are not objects, prizes or trophies to be collected. With these cases so prevalent in the world, we need to build trust, showing people that this is an issue to be taken seriously, and build resilience among the victims. One way that might take a big step in achieving that is to put more women in the positions of power, letting our voices and desires be heard as we shine light on gender imbalance and figure out how to address it. And hopefully, it will scare off the dehumanizing acts of perpetrators and redistribute power to women. We have a long way to go as a society—but we’re on our way.
Take that, Harvey.