By Cassidy Johnson
In recent weeks the news and social media have been riddled with accusations and eventual realizations of high profile systematic sexual harassment. Several men have been outed as sexual predators, all of them successful, most of them well known, some captains of their industry. The majority of outed predators have been limited to the Hollywood and news media industries. So many names have come out over the past month that it’s become less of an “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he’s been a sexual predator this whole time” and more of an “I wonder which rich perverts will be fired this week” matter. Gone are the days of rare instances like the Bill Cosby trial and the tapes of Erin Andrews. The nasty truth has begun to come out. And thank God.
It all began to unfold in early October when the New York Times and The New Yorker reported that Harvey Weinstein, the immensely successful and influential film executive and co-founder of The Weinstein Co., has been accused of alleged unwanted sexual advances and sexual harassment of multiple women over the past 30 years. The information provided by the New York publications have prompted investigations of sexual assault allegations against Weinstein by the New York Police Department, Manhattan District Attorney’s office, and London police officers. Once the truth about Weinstein came, out it didn’t take long before other names followed. Others accused of sexual harassment or assault are Brett Ratner, movie producer and director, actor Kevin Spacey, comedian-actor and writer Louis C. K., and news anchor Matt Lauer. Politicians in the heat include Senator Al Franken (D-MN) (right), and Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore (left). Congressmen. Representative John Conyers just resigned amid allegations.
One beacon of light in the dark perverse abyss is the voice of the women, particularly the surge of women who have come forward, silent no more. Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, Lupita Nyongo are just 4 out of the 80 women who have accused Harvey Weinstein (left) of unwanted sexual advances. Actress Olivia Munn spoke the truth about Brett Ratner, and Gal Gadot declared she would not return as Wonder Woman if he continued to profit off of her role. In the cases of Charlie Rose of CBS and Matt Laurer of NBC, their producers have been accused of sweeping instances of misconduct under the rug for years, and not aiding individuals who have come to them to report disturbing behavior.
It should be noted that some of these producers and spokespeople that represent the accused are women. Fear of professional retaliation and damage to their careers has been cited as reasons why those aware of the misconduct did not report it to executives or the media. However, those are the same reasons that kept so many women silent for so many years. So far, 9 people have alleged actor Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct, including Broadway Rent actor Anthony Rapp when he was just 14 years old. Spacey is now being written out of the last season of the hit Netflix drama House of Cards.
Harvey Weinstein
Matt Lauer
Of course, these accusations and horrifying experiences are not limited to just those big names in Hollywood and LA or New York. Sexual assault and harassment is evident and often isn’t confronted in most settings. This includes the workplace, school, politics, and even walking down the streets. The possibilities are endless. Actress Alyssa Milano popularized the hashtag #MeToo which was a platform for women all across the world in every professional and walk of life to share their experiences with sexual harassment and support one another. Milano said, “My hope is people will get the idea of the magnitude, of just how many people have been affected by this in the world, in our lifetimes, in this country.” There have been over 12 million Facebook posts and 1.7 million tweets containing the hashtag. The movement is so prominent and important that on Dec. 6th Time Magazine designated the #MeToo Movement and what they called “The Silence Breakers” as their 2017 Person of the Year, a prestigious title. The cover featured actress Ashely Judd, lobbyist Adama Iwu, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, singer Taylor Swift, and strawberry picker Isabel Pascual. The story includes accounts from a multitude of women from all walks of life.
Wanting to prove that this is not solely an adult issue, I surveyed students anonymously at Apopka High School. The results come from 123 participants. 47.9% of the population that identified as female said that they had been sexually harassed before, and 19.5% of male students admitted that, as well. Around 30% of those kids stated that they had been harassed at school, with 70% of them telling no one about the occurrence. Just 5% informed an administrator. In the survey, students reported feeling uncomfortable, scared, disgusted, objectified and reduced down to less than human. Helpless, angry, sick, violated–you get the idea.
When asked to describe how the harassment left them feeling students responded: “Sick. Perverted. Angry. He violated me. Tore me apart and left me to stitch myself back up.” “It made me feel empty inside like I was missing a piece of myself. I was scared and anxious for months and could not sleep.” “It made me feel disrespected and like trash. It made me feel sick because people think that it’s okay to disrespect someone like that.” “It made me feel inhuman as if I was no longer a person but just an object.”
29.2% of students surveyed said that had been witness to sexual harassment, although only 5.2% reported it. When asked if they had ever been the perpetrator of sexual harassment, one student replied, “Definitely not. I know the difference between yes and no. I also know that there is a time and a place for everything. It’s one thing to say that a person is attractive or to compliment someone, but it’s another to act on those feelings inappropriately.” Another, however, was quite honest and admitted: “Occasionally I have overstepped my boundaries, but promptly apologized afterward.” Another said, “Yes. I’d rather not specify, however, we were all joking and laughing including the ‘victim’ and they didn’t seem to have a problem at all. I even spoke to them later that day. In the end, though she wrote a statement saying I did many things and other indecent liberties.”
This widespread and almost unencumbered sexual harassment is, in fact, a two-fold problem. One is the actions themselves. Actions induced by a lack of respect for other people’s bodies and encouraged by a lack of accountability or consequence. The second part of this problem is the surprise everyone felt as more and more names have come out of the woodwork. We were either unaware how common sexual harassment was or willing to ignore it for so long that we forgot it was even happening. Both possibilities are unacceptable. We need to better, and maybe, just maybe, we’re beginning to.
*Edit: After the publishing of this article, Alabama Senatorial Candidate Roy Moore (R) lost to Doug Jones (D) by 1%.