www.usatoday.com: Mira Sorvino believes the key to eradicating sexual misconduct lies more in preventative education than in "naming and shaming" perpetrators.
The Oscar-winning actress was one of the first to come forward with allegations of abuse against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and her resilience has not wavered.
5 comments:
I wholeheartedly agree that there needs to be prevention coupled with the reporting of assault and harassment. Unfortunately, the wave of shaming that comes with an accusation of a high powered individual tends to only scare other high powered people. Many have then turned to the solution of not hiring women instead of not giving unsolicited comments and interactions. There’s a fear of always being seen as doing the wrong thing, making it seem better to a handful of people to just avoid the situation entirely by not putting themselves in it. In and of itself, this is not the worst strategy; it certainly doesn’t help anyone learn or grow or truly solve the problem, but it is understandable as a response to perhaps a different problem. But that would be if it was something not of this gravity. This plan of action not only does not solve anything, but it cuts women off from the professional world. By educating and in effect indoctrinating a new culture the way the current one was indoctrinated to all the youth of its time and even those now, we can hope to build a world where we do not have to “name and shame” because it just won’t be happening.
It is very disheartening to live in a world where although we are aware of the harassment that prevails around us, we still do not take any action against such acts either because we are aloof, we are scared to be involved in someone else's matter or because we are just not interested enough to want to help people who need help.
It gets worse when it prevails in an industry which essentially is responsible for communicating and presenting to the audiences the kind of world we live in. Hollywood is largely responsible for showcasing the goods and wrongs that prevail around them.
Sexual harassment is disgusting and something that should be met with the strictest punishment. Yet it is present in the world around us in large arenas and numbers that are too big to fathom.
Despite the severity of such acts, people and the industry biggies are not able to help the victims because they are concerned about how it will affect them; people forget to think about the victim. And that is the thing that needs to change. Victims should be helped and people should be ready to do that.
I completely agree with Ms. Sorvino’s point of view. It is not enough to name and shame, it is very important that we take steps to change the culture that we have been raised in so the ones coming after us can do better. Lately, the shame game no longer has the same effect as it did when it first started. It has only made perpetrators become more covert in their ways just so they are seen as perpetrators. Going on from now if we don’t do something to address this issue fair and square, “name and shame” is going to become a normal punishment for the crime and people are not going to have the same regard for it as they did in the beginning which is beginning to happen. We should come together and work on a ways to prevent sexual assault from happening, ways to address the ones that have happened and ways to deal with what is currently happening.
I am so glad that this has come out, especially from someone who is in the very thick of the discussion of consent and sexual misconduct in the entertainment world. As one of Weinstein's first accusers, I think it was very important that Ms. Sorvino came out with this statement, and I believe that she's right. It is definitely a good thing that those who have abused others, whether verbally, physically, sexually, or emotionally, are being exposed and (hopefully) appropriately reprimanded, but that's not nearly enough. As Ms. Sorvino explicitly said: "It can't just be punishment and naming and shaming, it's got to be prevention because that's what we really want. We want no one victimized." We have the power to create a new culture, a culture of consent, in the younger and yet-to-be-born generations, and it is on us to create that culture. Unfortunately, not only does this culture not exist as it should right now, but it is actively being undermined by the person who holds the most important office in this country at the moment. This tells everyone who listens and watches that consent is not needed and holds no meaning. What else do we expect, when this is the culture currently being perpetuated? We have the responsibility to change this. I also have to admit that I (foolishly) did not know women do not explicitly have equality in the Constitution at the moment. This is an atrocity. America can do better, and we need to realize that that means we all need to do better.
This article focuses on a rally important part of the me too movement and how we create a better and safer world for those who come after us. Besides naming and punishing those who are abusers, we need to work to educate younger generations about consent. We cannot shy away from these conversations with kids simply because they are difficult and uncomfortable--to do so is to fail them completely. Hearing the excuse that a man who has abused someone is simply a product of their time is not an excuse to absolve them of all wrong doing, but we have to admit the insidious nature of our media and pop culture and how it effects kids. Movies like "'Sixteen Candles' or 'Porky's' or 'Animal House' which made it OK to commit date rape and it was the women's fault because she was drunk," have hand an impact on those watching them and growing up. Any sort of media that we watch influences and creates bias--even if we are working to actively combat it, bias is inherent and strengthened by these messages and themes we see from our video games, tv shows, movies, books, and celebrities. If we don't work to combat these ideas and educate the young men growing up, the me too cycle will just continue without any lasting impact.
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