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Tuesday, October 13, 2020
SAG-AFTRA Heralds Guidelines for Preventing Sexual Harassment
Variety: On the third anniversary of reports on the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, SAG-AFTRA has unveiled new resources to help prevent sexual harassment and build safer working conditions for members.
This SAG-AFTRA ‘sex, nudity, and you’ plan sounds really amazing. I also love that they’re rolling out an app in addition to adding a lot of protocols to prevent sexual harassment. This has been more than a couple years in the making. I remember freshman year writing posts for the green pages related to everything going on with Harvey Weinstein. The union is one of the biggest protections that is in place for actors (whether that be actors in film or actors in theatre). It’s awesome to see SAG-AFTRA take command over this issue and place down some much needed boundaries regarding this issue. It gives me hope that other unions will begin to do the same. Whether you’re an actor or not, no one deserves to be harassed in the workplace, ever. I very much appreciate the portion of this article that is about banning auditions in private residences and hotel rooms. It’s very obvious that these rules are considering the many different places and ways people can and have been taken advantage of.
This is definitely a step in the right direction and I hope to see that it remains effective. The Harvey Weinstein scandal is something that shook up Hollywood and required unions and film companies to act and to act swiftly. I'm glad to know that they are still acting on it years later and that it hasn't become any less of an issue as time went on. I think that right now, Gabrielle Carteris, is the perfect president for SAG-AFTRA. She herself went through some of the most egregious (yet legal) situations that occur on the daily in the film and television industry. I think that protecting actors should be emphasized not just for press, but because it is the right thing to do and that is something that Carteris understands after her time on Beverly Hills 90210 and other projects where her boundaries came into question. I applaud SAG-AFTRA on their work so far and I hope that they continue to put people in leadership roles that care about these issues.
I felt really hopeful reading this article. With everything going wrong in the world, SAG- AFTRA’s latest guidelines are such a relief to think about. Their plan to tackle and protect people against sexual harassment seems solid to the point that we might finally have the way to, in a true sense, protect workers from such assaults. The most striking and applaudable part of this plan is the leadership team that is handling this. Everyone involved, especially the president knows what they are dealing with, what are the impacts of such assaults on the victim and what true victory feels like when such perpetrators are punished. They have, in one sense or another, dealt with similar situations which make them the perfect candidates to help deal and eradicate harassment from the film and television industry. They are there to support and help anyone who faces something like this and that I feel like is one of the most integral first step that could be taken towards this.
This article is a hard but important read. I read some of the provided resources as well. It is definitely nice progress, especially that the regulations even cover auditions. I do hope that, to whatever extent possible, these guidelines also apply to performers outside of the unions because they are common decency to have in place. It is also nice that terminology and regulations are clearly defined and outlined in the works. The increasing presence of intimacy directors is a great practice. The app in development for reporting harassment is promising, but only if it is done properly and in the best way for victims. I would want to know more about the reporting process before fully backing it. Reporting harassment is a delicate process, especially when it comes to providing the best possible protection for those impacted by the harassment. It is unfortunate though that they come out of horrible violations, but I hope they are followed going forward for the benefit of everyone. I also hope that other industries can follow suit. -Ariel Bernhard
4 comments:
This SAG-AFTRA ‘sex, nudity, and you’ plan sounds really amazing. I also love that they’re rolling out an app in addition to adding a lot of protocols to prevent sexual harassment. This has been more than a couple years in the making. I remember freshman year writing posts for the green pages related to everything going on with Harvey Weinstein. The union is one of the biggest protections that is in place for actors (whether that be actors in film or actors in theatre). It’s awesome to see SAG-AFTRA take command over this issue and place down some much needed boundaries regarding this issue. It gives me hope that other unions will begin to do the same. Whether you’re an actor or not, no one deserves to be harassed in the workplace, ever. I very much appreciate the portion of this article that is about banning auditions in private residences and hotel rooms. It’s very obvious that these rules are considering the many different places and ways people can and have been taken advantage of.
This is definitely a step in the right direction and I hope to see that it remains effective. The Harvey Weinstein scandal is something that shook up Hollywood and required unions and film companies to act and to act swiftly. I'm glad to know that they are still acting on it years later and that it hasn't become any less of an issue as time went on. I think that right now, Gabrielle Carteris, is the perfect president for SAG-AFTRA. She herself went through some of the most egregious (yet legal) situations that occur on the daily in the film and television industry. I think that protecting actors should be emphasized not just for press, but because it is the right thing to do and that is something that Carteris understands after her time on Beverly Hills 90210 and other projects where her boundaries came into question. I applaud SAG-AFTRA on their work so far and I hope that they continue to put people in leadership roles that care about these issues.
I felt really hopeful reading this article. With everything going wrong in the world, SAG- AFTRA’s latest guidelines are such a relief to think about. Their plan to tackle and protect people against sexual harassment seems solid to the point that we might finally have the way to, in a true sense, protect workers from such assaults. The most striking and applaudable part of this plan is the leadership team that is handling this. Everyone involved, especially the president knows what they are dealing with, what are the impacts of such assaults on the victim and what true victory feels like when such perpetrators are punished. They have, in one sense or another, dealt with similar situations which make them the perfect candidates to help deal and eradicate harassment from the film and television industry. They are there to support and help anyone who faces something like this and that I feel like is one of the most integral first step that could be taken towards this.
This article is a hard but important read. I read some of the provided resources as well. It is definitely nice progress, especially that the regulations even cover auditions. I do hope that, to whatever extent possible, these guidelines also apply to performers outside of the unions because they are common decency to have in place. It is also nice that terminology and regulations are clearly defined and outlined in the works. The increasing presence of intimacy directors is a great practice. The app in development for reporting harassment is promising, but only if it is done properly and in the best way for victims. I would want to know more about the reporting process before fully backing it. Reporting harassment is a delicate process, especially when it comes to providing the best possible protection for those impacted by the harassment. It is unfortunate though that they come out of horrible violations, but I hope they are followed going forward for the benefit of everyone. I also hope that other industries can follow suit.
-Ariel Bernhard
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