MERYL’S SHOWBIZ MANTRA
Empathy key to fixing culture, Streep says
Meryl Streep got real about disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein and the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding Hollywood in front of 11,000 women yesterday.
“The thing about Harvey Weinstein is that he is the most gargantuan example of a kind of disrespect that permeates every industry, every enterprise,” the
Academy Award-winning actress said onstage with political activist Gloria Steinem at the Massachusetts Conference for Women.
“Maybe it's in response to the women's movement, maybe it's in fear of the women movement,” she continued. “But these abuses are about dominance, about putting you in your place, more than sex.”
Whatever the reason behind the alleged abuses, Streep thinks bringing these instances to light and encouraging widespread discussion could lead the way to a solution. And if that doesn't do it, maybe she and a group of fellow actresses can.
“I'm getting together with a bunch of actresses that you all know very well and we're all going to make a set of non-negotiable demands,” Streep said.
Wouldn't we like to be a fly on the wall during that forum?
Among those impending demands, Streep said, will be having more women in positions of power.
“There are so many great opportunities for women to enter different jobs,” Streep said. “But (not) to rise, to get up to that top layer. … We're after 50/50 by 2020.”
Now, Streep isn't sitting there concocting conspiracies. She doesn't think the current gender — or racial — ratio is the result of a malicious, calculated plan.
“There's no horrible plot at the top of Hollywood to keep people of color or women out of leadership positions,” she said. “Like hires like. White hires white. A guy who wears his baseball cap backwards hires a guy who wears his baseball cap backwards. It's just the way it is.
“We have to encourage the people who are currently in power who are of one gender, generally, to open the door, to think about somebody different, to encourage them to be empathetic.”