Hollywood, Open Your Eyes

In October 2017, the New Yorker published an investigative article about their investigation on Harvey Weinstein. The investigation that focused on Weinstein’s serial sexual assaults on women over the years and his many payments that Weinstein had transferred to cover-up and recompense the women who accused him of sexual harassment.

Since the publication of the article, Weinstein has been fired from the company he created, Weinstein Company.  In addition to the women who were part of the investigation, many other women have come forward to speak out about their own experiences of sexual harassment from Weinstein. But rather than the accusations of sexual harassment facing only Weinstein, more people came forward with their difficult experiences caused by other prominent men in Hollywood such as Kevin Spacey, Jeffrey Tambor, Charlie Rose and others.

This is the Weinstein Effect – people coming forward to accuse famous or important figures, mostly men, of sexual harassment.

But while these men begin to face the consequences of their actions, there’s a question that most fail to address  – why are women coming forward now?

“It was a power game. Me: 0 and Harvey Weinstein:10′

The women who came forward claimed that Weinstein’s behaviour was not a one-off situation but facilitated predatory behaviour. More than 80 women have publicly accused him of sexual harassment of various forms over the past forty years.

Most people would like to believe that Weinstein’s dramatic downfall was due to the social environment and the dismissal of other sexual predators such as Bill Cosby and Bill O’Reilly. But what raises curiosity is that whether they had their downfall due to tackling social injustice or because the influence of these individuals in the industry was already fading from the limelight.

Weinstein started his career as a Hollywood mogul. He and Bob Weinstein created Weinstein Company which quickly became one of the two biggest film studios in North America. This aided Weinstein in having a large influence as a producer and someone to attract to bolster one’s career in Hollywood.Many of his victims were women who just wanted a break in the industry.

Dr Elizabeth Ruggiero-Wallis, a well-known therapist; says, “Harassment is about power and it is the control and manipulation someone has in a situation.”

According to her, women are coming forward now because they’re coming in numbers. It isn’t one sole woman’s claim against a man which leaves her more vulnerable to attacks against her. In previous cases of sexual harassment, women have come forward stating that the men responsible either claimed that the woman were solely trying to extort money from them or whatever happened between them was by their choice and thus consensual. In this situation – women are coming together in large numbers to prove the validity of their claims. Furthermore, the numbers prove the severity of sexual harassment in Hollywood and how it has been unanswered for. The theory is that if there is something which most people believe should not be spoken about, many come together so there may not be individual blame. This proves the stigma behind this topic of conversation until the Weinstein scandal was uncovered by the New Yorker. People are concerned with discussing the issue because they fear the social repercussions.

It’s important to understand, no matter how difficult a situation may be – remember to talk about it with someone. Issues such as sexual harassment should not be hidden in the dark, instead, they should be discussed and tackled. As Senior Caroline Mao says, ‘Speak up.’