Power imbalances lead to issues that go beyond Weinstein-like sexual misconduct

WE’VE SEEN SOMETHING OF a tipping point where sexual abuse and harassment are concerned in the post-Weinstein era. Shining a light on a long-unspoken blight is but the beginning. We’ve got a long way to go before the status quo changes: those in power take what they want, typically without fear of reprisal.

That applies to more than just unwanted sexual advances. Abuse of power is rampant, particularly in corporate and political circles, extending well beyond the casting couch.

A spate of high-profile cases in the entertainment world have finally put a spotlight on an issue that has surfaced now and then for years. It’s much the same story in the political sphere, where past revelations caused a scandal, but no real discussion of the underlying issues we see today. Think of the likes of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich to Anthony Weiner and Donald Trump.

Since Harvey Weinstein came to our attention for all the wrong reasons, we see accusations in a new light, one that didn’t have the same resonance with, say, Bill Cosby or even Trump’s electoral bid last year.

In the past, the outrage and the stories themselves quickly blew over. There was no real accountability, and a sense of a boys-willbe-boys mentality.

Now, there’s a growing list of men who wish Weinstein hadn’t opened the floodgates, the likes of Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor, Al Franken and Matt Lauer. Add to that list Roy Moore, the would-be Alabama senator.

This is not a partisan issue – it’s about power, no matter what stripe.

The tax bills being steamrolled through the U.S. Congress speak to the influence money and power still have: the budget is bad for all but the wealthiest of Americans, but those are precisely the people who own the politicians, many of whom have acknowledged their support for the budget is all about keeping the donations coming. That means keeping the donors happy – that’s is all that matters, the public good be damned.

Sex and money and power go hand in hand. The fourth horseman is abuse.

While politicians have yet to suffer the same amount of pushback as those in Hollywood does not yet negate the idea we’ve reached a tipping point. (A large chunk of voters in Alabama notwithstanding.)

Some men have undoubtedly paid a price for their actions, but the issue runs deeper than payback to a few high-profile cases. It’s a systemic problem, a power imbalance that has fostered abuse for all of recorded history ... and then some. And it’s not going away anytime soon.

Stories of Weinstein’s predilections circulated in Hollywood for decades, with everyone turning a blind eye due to his power and influence. With the silence broken, all the pent up anger and shame spilled out, setting off a tidal wave – and an even bigger tsunami is needed, washing through all aspects of society, especially those places farthest away from the glamour of Tinsel Town.

Whether there’s a systemic change that provides equality to those suffering from the power imbalance – in this case, women, but society is rife with other minority issues – or just a storm that the boys-willbe-boys mindset has to ride out is yet to be determined. Is this a moment or a movement?

The public reaction thus far has been encouraging, suggests Alexandra Schwartz, a staff writer at The New Yorker, in a discussion on NPR. But there’s a long way to go.

“It would be really nice if misogyny could be ended by finding and eliminating one perpetrator. But no one man is accountable for the patriarchy. It is a power structure that relies on a network of people and institutions who have all bought into the same lies,” she says. “We can, and should, keep finding the stories of abuse buried throughout the industry. But we also have to think about why these men have internalized what they did, so that we can start to undo this harm for the future. How is it that so many men determined that their actions would be acceptable or even encouraged? Where do these preconceptions of what it means to wield power and how one goes about having sex come from?”

From Weinstein to Trump, women are naming names because they now have the freedom to do so. Some of the accusers have fame and power of their own, giving them both credibility and leverage. That’s not always the case. In fact, those most likely to face an abuse of power are those with little of their own.

Unite Here, a union representing the likes of hospitality, textile and food service workers in the U.S. and Canada, sees plenty of imbalance. On the sexual harassment front, that applies widely in industries where workers are predominantly female and paid poorly.

When the union surveyed hotel and casino workers in Chicago last year, for instance, it found that 58 per cent of hotel workers and 77 per cent of those working in casinos had been harassed by a guest. (In a who-woulddo-that-kind-of-thing moment, 49 per cent of those working in hotels had experienced a situation where a guest answering their knock at the door was naked.)

That may have been part of what prompted the city to pass an ordinance this summer mandating that all hotel housekeepers and those working alone in a guest’s room should have a panic button.

The need for such rules is indicative of a problem that goes well beyond Hollywood and Washington. Awareness is the first step, to be followed by an environment that allows all victims of abuse, sexual or otherwise, to speak freely without fear of retribution. That goes beyond policies and codes of conduct

– most workplaces, for example, have such things, to little avail in some cases – to a change in our culture. More equality, specifically economic equality, would go a long way to righting the imbalance.

While we’re doing some good post-Weinstein, the big picture shows us moving in the wrong direction where economic inequality is concerned.