Clare Johnston

IN A week in which we were reminded of where the balance of power still lies in most industries, a conversation with my oldest son told me there’s hope yet.

Right now, we appear to be going through a bit of a flushing out period in our history.

With society having advanced to the point where the great majority of us understand it’s not OK to go around making unwanted sexual advances (or worse) to others, more and more people are coming forward to publicly call out this behaviour.

We saw it most prominently with the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, whose accusers are now forming a line to point the finger after finding strength in numbers.

Who knows how many producers, directors and actors have behaved similarly without being outed in this way? Surely now they realise the game is up, their false belief that their job made them somehow untouchable now lying in tatters on the cutting room floor.

Last week also saw the courageous Frank McGowan, ironically also a film-maker, tell of how he had been sexually assualted – by a woman.

It’s not just females who have been shamed into fear and silence after an assault. And it took real guts for Frank to speak out. In waiving his right to anonymity, he will have realised he would be subjected to more unfair and disgusting abuse, this time from social media trolls who dine out on others’ misery. Still he went ahead. His bravery in putting his hand up and saying, “This happened to me”, marks him out.

And every act of courage such as those we saw from men and women last week, mean soon there will

be no place to hide for those who set out to gratify themselves by harming others. One night after work, I was talking to my husband about the Weinstein accusations, when my son, 13, asked what was going on. I told him the story and it was in his utter bewilderment that I saw hope for the future. “Why would anyone do that?” he asked, genuinely baffled. For all we complain about young people being online, posting selfies, taking longer to grow up, kids today are a far more enlightened bunch. By the time they reach their teens, most feel the need to treat others with respect – including respecting our differences. As evidence of this, more than a quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds are teetotal. I’m guessing they’re looking at what’s gone before and thought they’d like to try a different way. The dinosaurs of this world should be afraid. They are destined for extinction.

It’s not just females who have been shamed into silence