Ahead of the one-year anniversary, USA TODAY wants to continue the conversation by sharing the voices of people who have experienced sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
#MeToo anniversary: 8 insiders share their stories, one year later
Ahead of the one-year anniversary, USA TODAY wants to continue the conversation by sharing the voices of people who have experienced sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry.
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3 comments:
The black and white text that, "94% of hundreds of women questioned say they have experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault during their careers in Hollywood," is really hard to read. Yes, we know if is prevalent in all industries, especially ours, but that figure alone is staggering. I really enjoyed this piece--the videos were well done, and I liked the variety interns of account types and the women who were featured. I think it is especially important to recognize that some still have to be Anonymous due to the real threat of retaliation, blowback, and threats that I can guarantee happen. I also really appreciate that the article linked to the methodology of the survey--and was able to explain it in laymen terms. What really hit home for me was the statement that "If sexual harassment is not defined in a survey, respondents are significantly less likely to report that they have experienced it," this puts an importance not he words we use to categorize and qualify. "“This groundbreaking survey quantifies what the Me Too movement has made clear in recent months: Sexual harassment in Hollywood is not limited to isolated incidents, just a few abusers and populations of victims. It is a systemic problem.”" This really helps add data to the me too movement, which is a critical step.
This article although not the shortest to go through and listen to all these stories was very important and impactful to hear. I think the biggest component of the #metoo movement is awareness, and this comes largely from people sharing their stories but there’s more to it than that. The stories are key because they bring about the need to report and speak out and provide greater context for the frequency that this is happening to women. Furthermore, this kind of awareness needs to be brought up in smaller more one on one interactions as an effort to correct this sort of attitude and behavior before it gets to a point of being unfixable. It is something that those who are conscious of these things shouldn’t have to deal with, just another weight on our shoulders but if you genuinely want things to change then the effort has to be put in. The one thing I really wish everyone could wrap their heads around is the overwhelming desire to just be treated the same as other people in the workplace, it’s a desire I can relate to quite strongly.
It is so painful to read article after article detailing the horrors suffered by women (and more) for decades. The number 94% is so unbelievably high. How do we morally set realistic goals in what we want that number to be in 2 years? 5 years? 20 years? Well, of course it should be zero, but we all know change is not instantaneous. If we hope to cut that number in half by 2030 we will have made a ton of progress but how can we go into the industry knowing we have a 47% chance of being a victim of sexual assault, and that’s assuming the numbers are cut drastically. How is it safe to send young women into a place where they almost certainly will be harassed or assaulted. I wonder if this anniversary will change the focus of the #metoo movement. This year has been about awareness, a wake up call for those who naively believed this kind of harassment had died and a purge of many of the worst offenders from their powerful pedestals. Will next year be about maintaining and expanding this goal or will it start to shift into long term policy change and the change of companies structure to provide more safety to employees in the entertainment industry. Personally I hope for both.
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