Friday, October 20, 2017
Harvey Weinstein’s employees are finally beginning to speak out
Salon.com: Amid the ongoing downfall of Harvey Weinstein, employees emboldened by all the support the media and the public has given to the survivors of his alleged sexual predation are coming forward with their own tales of verbal and psychological abuse they suffered at his hand. Still, most — perhaps by necessity — continue to maintain their anonymity, even as they claim no knowledge of Weinstein’s alleged sexual abuse.
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I am interested in what these sources have to contribute to this ever growing scandal, more than any finger pointing. I think placing blame is the wrong avenue to take this early in the process of figuring out what precisely happened. Without denying that many of his employees might be culpable at the end of the day, we should also remember how easy it might be for someone like Harvey Weinstein to coerce cooperation and silence out of people, especially after cultivating such a fearful workplace thanks to his aggressive and domineering behavior. None of this is easy; the finger pointing only makes it less so. I think the moves being made to have the NDAs removed is a good one, and perhaps one of the better ways to shed further light on this situation. And let's not forget who is truly at the heart of this problem and scandal: Harvey.
This article touches on something that I find very worrying. "You feel a bit like an idiot,” one anonymous executive told The New Yorker in an article published Thursday. “There were things you knew. Clearly there was also a strategy on his part." Statements like that are terrifying. I have been in many work environments where I have been warned away from actors, designers, managers, or directors, and told that that have problem with women or have been skeezy, or even that they have physically or verbally harassed someone. If any of this is known, why do we still say silent? If we are comfortable enough warning those around us about someone, why don't we take it a step farther? Of course hard evidence is important, but whispered rumors and warnings really aren't enough. In the statement from the 30 Miramax and Weinstein Company employees, they say; “We did not know we were working for a serial sexual predator," it reads. "We knew that our boss could be manipulative. We did not know that he used his power to systemically assault and silence women. We had an idea that he was a womanizer who had extra-marital affairs. We did not know he was a violent aggressor and alleged rapist.” At what point do you draw the line? If this man is in a position of power and interacts with women, especially those on the start of their careers, can you claim ignorance? Of course Harvey is villain here, but at what point is silence no longer acceptable?
People have been trying to paint it as a Hollywood problem, but it never is a Hollywood problem. Men who are in more powerful positions taking advantages of their subordinates is so rampant everywhere in the society that it never is just within show biz. The statement put out by Weinstein’s current employees is very disheartening as they try to pull themselves out of this scandalous cesspool. However, considering they are under the non-disclosure agreement and they have been the victim of other kinds of abuse exerted by Harvey Weinstein and it is not completely untrue that they claim they did not know what exactly were his horrific behaviors other than he openly presents himself as a flamboyant womanizer. It is quite easy to rationalize things when you think this is part of a person’s character. The most important thing here is not to force victims come out and place blames, rather it is to make a case once and for all that no one should be tolerated and able to still throw his sway over other after this. I’ve seen news coverage that Harvey Weinstein said he was planning to come back after a year or so. The industry and every workplace and the justice system should re-structure themselves and their cultures so that he should be convicted and sentenced and would not be allowed to come back if he hasn’t sincerely repented.
I guess that it is good that his employees are starting to speak up, and I don't want to sound like I am complaining too much because any step forward is a step and I am happy we are taking any at all, but part of me just wants to scream into the void about how horrible and complacent these people must have been for so many years. I think this article is more about the people who work for Harvey to seem like they are doing something and taking a stand, in an effort to protect themselves than it is them actually doing something. I also really agree with what Liz said above that part of what makes this Weinstein culture so dangerous is that it forces a ton of victims to come forward and say that they are victims. I can tell you from experience that after you are assaulted or made to feel uncomfortable or grabbed in the street the last thing you wanna do is talk about it. You want to crawl in a hole and never go out in public again, so part of what is wrong with the way that we are convicting these horrible men is that we are relying on not one but 20 women to come forward and the truth is (at least in this case) we didn't need all these women to rehash the worst moments of their lives, because there was a whole staff of people who knew exactly what was happening.
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