I thought I'd spend this evening talking about an issue that has shocked and appalled everyone recently; accusations of sexual harassment and abuse carried out by those with privilege and power in the higher realms of Hollywood.
You may remember the Jimmy Savile scandal of 2012. Everyone was utterly outraged; people couldn't believe that this seemingly trustworthy and charitable man could be capable of such heinous crimes against victims that ranged from young children to adults. For weeks, it was the hot topic and the name on everyone's lips. In the weeks following the scandal, many places and things that were once affectionately linked with Savile, quickly deleted all evidence and denied all possible links with the man. It was actually quite incredible to see society change so quickly like this. He was (still is really) the most hated man in Britain and the feeling of hatred only deepened as more and more victims came forward with their stories. I even wrote a piece for my university paper, The Galleon on the scandal at the time and remarked even then the sheer scale of the outrage felt by the public at the time. I also wrote about a documentary that came out about the scandal and its links to the BBC. I remember even now being shocked at the amount of people who said that they knew or had an inkling of what was going on but didn't feel able to come out- even those in power at the BBC at the time. While I appreciate that at the time, Savile was a powerful man, I couldn't quite get my head around the mentality of a person seeing sexual abuse happen right in front of their eyes and not reporting it or at least telling others and warning them about it.
What I also noticed was that after several weeks, victims' stories, news headlines and front pages and a tidal wave of social media hashtags and statuses about the scandal, the storm went away. People just stopped talking about it and discussing the main issue at the heart of the scandal. Once again, like most things in society, they peak and trough. One second something is front page news and everyone's outraged and then the next we've all seemingly moved on and have continued to live our lives moaning about the trivial again. Meanwhile, more victims lay beneath the wood-work feeling confused and silenced by the seemingly fickle nature of society's "outrage."
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| More allegations have surfaced putting Kevin Spacey in hot water |
So, fast forward now to 2017 and once again, we find ourselves in the middle of another celeb sexual assault "outrage." First, it was Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer mogul who, it was revealed, had a whole catalogue of abuse under his belt; big named celebs were among those who were coming out in their droves to condemn the producer saying that he propositioned them in hotel rooms and the like. This absolutely disgusting behaviour once again- and quite rightly so- caused outrage and reignited the talks about sexual abuse and taking claims and victims seriously. This is all fantastic; meaningful conversations about change is something I'm all for. Then, only weeks after the Weinstein scandal, another big name was accused of the same despicable crimes; Kevin Spacey, star of Netflix political hit, House of Cards. Ironic and poignant it seems, the man who plays a fictitious congressman is wrapped up in scandal and corruption. Once again, the outrage is building at the seemingly infested world of Hollywood and once again we are hearing people say, "I hinted at this back in so-and-so." Yeah ok, pipe down we all know you want the limelight. Saying you hinted at it is just as bad, if not worse than saying you didn't say anything at all. It says that you felt you needed to speak up but you were too scared to speak loud enough, and that just screams one thing to me- coward. You have the power to make change, yet you chose to fall short.
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| The accusations against Weinstein are still coming in |
Also saying you "feared for your career" is something else that infuriates me. Are you that shallow that you'd happily go along with it just so you can earn some big bucks? I'd rather not have a job at all than know that I was working with a disgusting pig who thought that he could abuse his power and cause huge damage to dozens of people who felt they had no way out. Perhaps an example will bring this home; it's like working for a man who burgles houses for a living but just selling on the stolen goods rather that actually doing the stealing. You may feel somewhat detached from the main crime but the thing is, you are still in the frame. You still have a duty to speak up and to be quite frank, you are just as bad as the burglar. You know people are suffering and you choose to do nothing? Shame on you! So yes, you may have said something small as a hint to others in a speech once upon a time, but unless it was along the lines of "I know this person is doing this and they need to be stopped" then it isn't good enough. No matter what the circumstances are. If you find yourself in a job that includes denying and hiding sexual abuse then here's a handy tip: GET ANOTHER FUCKING JOB....and report that company too while you're at it.
The only way sexual abuse and its victims are going to be recognised and stopped is if we keep the discussion alive and not just let the outrage blow over. We need to get into a culture of "see it, report it" not "see it and spend the next 30 years sweeping it under the carpet". No-one should feel or indeed be silenced because of any abuse. The #metoo hashtag on Twitter is an example of the direction we should be going in. We should be talking about this and not just as a trending hashtag on Twitter, but all the time. It should be reported every time so it can be dealt with promptly for the precise reason why the Jimmy Savile scandal is such a sad case; Savile is dead so can no longer be called to justice for his crimes, and his victims can never get their closure. I just hope that from these sexual abuse scandals, we as a society take something from it and genuinely start to change our attitudes because by the sounds of it, we are in desperate need of change.
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