22
Jan
So you’re a man, or a woman, or maybe you’re a conservative, or a liberal. You don’t work in the entertainment industry and you’ve never been the abuser or the victim of any kind of sexual harassment or assault. And you’re thinking to yourself, “Do I really need to care about this Harvey Weinstein case? Isn’t that over yet? Why does it keep popping up in my newsfeed?”
Well, I have some thoughts on the subject. Before I get into the details, I have to come clean and let you know who I am, and what biases I bring to this post. I’m a white woman in the privileged middle class. I studied film production in college and dreamed of being a TV or film producer. I currently work as a Video and Event Producer for corporate clients. I self identify as a feminist and I am passionate about women’s rights and equality for all. So yes, you could say that I have a high interest in this case because it not only deals with women’s rights for which I am already passionate, but it’s within the industry I dreamed of being a part of for so long.
But below I’ve listed some reasons that anyone should care about the Harvey Weinstein case. You don’t have to be a woman or involved in the entertainment industry, to recognize that this is a case that will impact history
Regardless of what industry you are in, sexual harassment and abuse occures in all industries. What happens in this case could set the precedent for many other cases of high profile sexual harassment and abuse. If Weinstein walks away determined not guilty, he will go straight back to Hollywood and begin his plans to pay back anyone and everyone that accused him, defended those who accused him, or even spoke ill of him during this whole thing. If he walks, many men like him will also walk away from such cases and will continue harming women. It will show other powerful men that if Harvey got off, surely they will never be caught or never proven guilty if caught. It will tell victims of assault all over the world that their stories won’t be believed, and that the government won’t hold perpetrators accountable for their actions, especially in the case of very wealthy and powerful perpetrators.
You care about women, right? Go back and read that again. I didn’t say women’s rights. I’m not saying you have to be a feminist. What I am saying is, you can agree that women should be able to go to work, go about their day and never have to worry about being sexually assaulted, right? I mean wouldn’t you want that for yourself, for any of the women in your life (think mothers, sisters, daughters, granddaughters, friends, aunts, etc.) or for any of the men in your life. You can agree that someone using their position of power to make lewd comments, to grope, to assault, to force themselves on to someone, is wrong, correct? You wouldn’t say that’s ok, would you? So if you think it’s wrong, you should care about the outcome of this case.
It doesn’t matter if you think Harvey is guilty or innocent. Because the truth is that these kinds of sexual crimes happen in workplaces all over our country. And right now, we have very limited laws to protect employees, and we have even fewer companies prioritizing safety for their people. We should unite in our disgust of sexual assault perpetrators. Far too often, good people are divided arguing about whether or not the woman should be believed, or whether the man is guilty, instead of being united against such acts all together. Instead of taking time arguing about whether or not Harvey is innocent (at this point it’s up to the jury to decide anyway, so our opinions don’t really matter anyway) lets work together to make sure all companies have policies in place to protect their workers, and that those policies are being upheld. We want to ensure that people in power aren’t able to abuse those beneath them.