Harvey Weinstein Effect

Victims, through news reports and social media, often become celebrities overnight. Victims of crime are instantly thrown into the public eye and are fair game when reporters are rushing the scene for a top news story. The media frenzy creates a chaos that magnifies the victims pain and suffering to acquire viewer’s attention, and the reports are usually more gruesome, violent and more sexually charged than the truth. Sexually violent crimes are often a top news focus, re-victimizing the survivor of the sex crime. Research shows that “84% of prime-time television shows contain at least one episode of sexual harassment, which perhaps accurately reflects the commonplace nature of this violent crime”(Beirne, 2011, pg. 11). When a crime has been committed, victims are at a vulnerable time in their lives, which is when the media takes the opportunity to move in and overwhelm them even further while distorting the facts, asking questions, and snapping pictures looking for a news story. Victims are often even re-victimized as the media picks through their past, nothing is private, all information received, whether through a dependable source or just another citizen, is displayed for all of society to make their judgment. This can lead to society thinking the victim deserved it, it was their fault, or they weren’t a good person. This type of treatment has a greater devastating emotional

Weinstein would frequently tell the women that all actresses would partake in those type of behaviors therefore, they should as well. Men who sexually harass women choose to prioritize their desires over the potential long term trauma the victim will most likely endure. It also brought to light another abuser, the bystander. Men of all ages stand by as inappropriate jokes are made at woman's behalf. In the Weinstein scandal, numerous celebrities came forward stating they heard about rumors involving weinstein but never the full extent. Too often people, men in particular, are willing to protect the abuser because it is easier to ignore the situation altogether. Harvey Weinstein had female assistants who would bring actresses to the disgraced producer knowing he would put the young actress in an uncomfortable position. Downplaying the oppression of women will only make it more difficult for there to be true gender equality. Gender equality can also be expanded to the many genders that people choose to identify with today. All genders other than the Man are currently seen as second-class citizens. Once the subconscious gender oppression ceases to play a role in our work and social environments, genders can finally be equal. That means jokes are not made based on gender, pursuit of happiness should not be dictated by gender, sexual desires will not influence political or

The past 20 year, Matt Lauer worked as a news anchor for the “Today” Show, making $20 million a year. Recently, his career on television came to an end after a complaint was reported from another colleague about inappropriate behavior at work. His fame from being in the spotlight for two decades caused him to gain pride and confidence in himself. Although, confidence and pride are indeed two positive qualities to have, he took those qualities too far into thinking sexual actions were acceptable. In an interview with Lauer’s attorney, Carney Shegerian stated, “It doesn't matter how

An example of the media being used to corrupt the minds of thousands that the actions were justifiable, is an article by CBS News, Donald Trump’s 2005 “Access Hollywood” video which was released and discussed. Throughout the video Trump proudly tells encounters of when he would grab and grope women, resulting in many of the victims reliving experiences of assault. In the video Trump states, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” (insert source). Once women began accusing the president of sexual assault Trump immediately reported to CNN that he was the true victim. He went on to claim, “ They are coming after me to try and destroy what is considered by even them the greatest movement in the history of our country.” (insert source). Rather than

While I was away, compiling, retranslating, and rewriting my novel No Degrees of Separation (yes, all of those, in interchangeable order), a powerful media mogul was accused by a few of his subordinates of sexually harassing them, and has stepped down as a result. He is 76 years old. There were also a few other episodes live on TV concerning rape, especially as a widely disseminated practice in our college campuses.

In response to the allegations against Weinstein and others, the #MeTo hashtag has emerged. It is a worldwide movement that has victims of sexual assault and harassment speaking out against the normalization of such behaviors. This movement based around an exclusive club has other people feeling left out and ignored. These people are overwhelmingly

His life has been forever changed as he was fired due to accusations of sexual assault. Obviously, protecting persons accused of sex crimes (or crimes in general) is not easy or comfortable, but how is it acceptable for someone to lose their job and be publicly shamed before there is any proof that they have lost their innocence. It is often said, “well he must have done something to be accused by multiple women.” Now, I am not supporting assault, or saying that these accusations have no value, but I am urging you to take more seriously the principle of innocent until proven guilty. Various innocent lives have been destroyed by rash judgments based solely on being accused.

This paper is going to focus on a major issue throughout North America, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Both work in cohesion and arguably interrelated. This paper is going to investigate the ways in which the media depicts sexual harassment and sexual assault, and identify the problems and implications of their common approaches. This paper is going to identify the motivations, such as to profit, the initiative to sell, working alongside with the notion of sensitization of crime.

Recently, there was a rally “#metoo” where women from all over stood up and talked about the sexual assault and harassment they have received over the years. Many women, and even men, came out to speak about and support the topic.The women in the article applied the theme of " female first" when Judd originally first spoke out about the situation with Harvey Weinstein. ("But instead of keeping quiet about the kind of encounter that could easily shame a woman into silence, she began spreading the word".) One example of a male figure who stood up was Terry Cruz saying "Why are you questioning the victims here?" It has been proven that over the years, people who are in a higher position have abused their powers to do all sorts of things to others.

Abuse at the hands of powerful individuals is common in Hollywood, with cases of harassment and assault going back decades. Hollywood is scrambling to establish standards to tackle the misconduct that has been brought to the table by allegations against multiple powerful producers. Of these leaders who have abused their power, the most recent event to spark national conversation was the Harvey Weinstein scandal. For more than twenty years, he has been trailed by rumors of sexual harassment and assault. His behavior has been known to many in Hollywood and beyond, but previous attempts to expose him have fallen short of the demands of journalistic evidence.

We knew all about Winona Ryder’s arrest and we knew all about Robert Downey Jr.’s struggle with drug addiction. So, if other celebrities can be thought of by their crimes in addition to their work, why is it that so many cases of rape and abuse seem to be swept under the rug by the film industry and the press? The film industry continues to work and award people like Michael Fassbender (who has two Academy Award and five Golden Globe nominations under his belt), even though they may have threw their girlfriend and dragged her alongside a car when he was drunk, causing a swollen ankle, a burst ovarian cyst, a broken nose, and a blown out knee cap. A victim, like Amber Heard, can have photographic evidence, witnesses, and a video of Johnny Depp abusing her, and Johnny Depp can still have five upcoming projects. As the public realize that your industry believe entertainers and “entertainment is worth more than women's safety,” (Campoamor) you won’t end up profiting from their

In the article “Feminist History of Rape” by Suzanne Brown she writes how the use of language that degrades specific groups of people allows for that group to be viewed as less important. These stereotypes rationalize for mistreatment of targeted groups such as women (Brown 8). Likewise, Christopher Kilmartin explains in his article “Changing Male Attitudes Reduces Sexual Violence” that “ seeing them [women] as a lower status allows us [men] to justify mistreating them in many ways.” College dorms, fraternities, and athletic teams are all informal places where young men can speak demeaningly of women with no one speaking up saying how it is inappropriate (Kilmartin 136). Just like in the Stanford case when reporters addressed the victim as “unconscious intoxicated women” they belittled the victim (Koren). Media plays a large role in rape culture. The media reinforces gender roles that encourage males to be aggressive and females to be submissive (Brown 8). These cultural beliefs help create an environment where sexual assault can flourish (8). When the media uses a passive voice and making the victim the subject rather than the abuser also makes rape seem unimportant (Kilmartin 137). For example when announcing a sports game the broadcaster does not say the game was tied and then a player made a three-pointer at the last second (137). No, the viewers want to know who is playing, what is the game tied

Harvey Weinstein has had many sexual harassment reports made against them in the past. According to the press release made by The New Yorker included many different forms of sexual assault including rape. Some of the stories were fairly veiled for discretions sake, while others detailed his requests to watch him bathe and for these young actress’ perform sexual favors for him. His actions were “a well known secret” of the Hollywood elite. Now his victims are standing up to say “Me Too”. Mr. Weinstein has been let go from the company he cofounded in light of the allegations.

This caused immense dissatisfaction among victims, loved ones, and bystanders. Statistics showing that one in four college women report sexual assault demonstrate just how prominent this phenomenon is in American culture. The lack of political effort to move American away from

Historically sexual harassment was strictly associated with women’s work as a way of exploiting women’s sexuality in a labour context; trying to force sex in a context of economic vulnerability was utilized as a way to keep women out of certain jobs and protect male power (Levan, 2011). In one of the first studies of sexual harassment, consciousness raising efforts groups revealed how nearly every woman had some experience of quitting or being fired from a job because of the sexual behaviour of male supervisors or co-workers (Levan, 2011). From this the “Working Women United in the state of New York in 1974” decided to call the phenomena sexual harassment (Levan, 2011, p.139). It is important to remember the political significance of these