In Hollywood, few believe harassers will be punished

Survey shows mistrust that complaints will be taken seriously

Disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein may well spend the rest of his life in prison. But that doesn’t mean workers in Hollywood have faith that other harassers and abusers will be similarly punished.

Instead, three years after the explosive Weinstein scandal launched the #MeToo movement, a survey by the Hollywood Commission, chaired by Anita Hill, finds a strong belief in the industry that sexual harassers will not be held to account.

“Things have improved, but not nearly enough,” Hill said in an interview ahead of the survey’s Tuesday release. “People don’t believe their complaints will be taken seriously, they don’t believe that something will happen to people who are found to be harassers. And they DO believe there will be retaliation — whether you’re a victim or a bystander, there’s a belief you will be retaliated against if you complain.”

As one of the nearly 10,000 respondents to the survey told the commission: “Just because a few famous offenders are being held accountable when reported by the most famous victims, does not mean anything has changed for the rest of us.”

The Hollywood Commission was formed in late 2017, after the allegations against Weinstein rocked the industry and forced a broader societal reckoning against sexual misconduct in the workplace. Hill, a prominent voice against sexual harassment ever since her 1991 accusations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, was named its chair.

The commission says 9,360 women and men, in all levels of entertainment industry jobs responded to the survey, which was conducted online and anonymously over a three-month period ending in February. This first of five reports focuses on perceptions of accountability, which the commission found especially startling. It also announces a new reporting platform for victims, in development.

In findings that Hill called “shocking but not surprising,” given the thousands of anecdotes the commission received, 65% of respondents said they didn’t believe someone in power, for example a producer or director, would be held accountable for harassing someone with less authority.

And there was a gender gap: While 45% of men believed that person would be held accountable, only 28% of women did. Other key findings:

■ Power inequities fuel the perceived lack of accountability. Less than half of workers, 48%, saw progress in addressing power abuse since the #MeToo movement took hold.

■ Few are reporting sexual harassment or misconduct, because there is little confidence something will be done. Only 23% of workers said they had reported harassing behavior to a supervisor.

■ Fear of retaliation against both victims and bystanders is strong, with 41% of respondents saying they’d experienced retaliatory behavior for reporting harassment or other misconduct.

Hill said the news wasn’t all negative — she was buoyed by the fact that workers were clear about what they needed: better reporting options, independent hotlines, and better guidance on how to navigate reporting systems.