THE YEAR OF SLEAZE
Helen O’hara looks at the revelations that rocked the world and what they mean for showbusiness
T here’s long been suspicion about sexual harassment and exploitation in Hollywood. All the stories about the “casting couch” – where aspiring starlets would be coerced into sex in exchange for work – and the producers who would grope and harass these young men and women, have been an open secret and a standing joke for years, just the background noise of making movies. But in 2017, rumours and insinuation were thoroughly fact-checked and reported by respectable newspapers, and a wave of
resignations, suspensions and firings followed, as allegations of abusive and even criminal behaviour came to light. Powerful men are being held to account for the first time, and it’s caused a huge ripple effect.
THE TIPPING POINT
So, what changed? This wasn’t a huge shift in how people think, but a perfect storm of tiny changes that had been relentlessly building up. A small number of brave women went on record against producer Harvey Weinstein in a New York Times article, and miraculously found themselves lauded rather than ridiculed or disbelieved. That was followed by a huge wave of support, which included some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Even if you dared to challenge the accounts of Rose Mcgowan and Ashley Judd, who’s going to argue with Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow? Campaigners have been saying for years that we must believe victims of sexual violence, and suddenly it seemed that their message was getting through.
Admittedly, it helped that so many of the victims were wealthy celebrities – so lawyers for the accused could not claim that they were making accusations for money or a cheap shot at fame. But once the media started paying attention to them, it also had to listen to the women of colour and the less-famous people who had been bravely speaking out for years and who had previously been ignored.
It was a tipping point. Suddenly other women came forward to speak out against other alleged harassers, like producer and director Brett Ratner and director James Toback, and they were joined by courageous men who alleged they had been harassed by actor Kevin Spacey, some when underage. For maybe the first time in history, powerful men’s accusers seemed to outnumber their defenders, and the price of protecting someone accused of sexual harassment or abuse became higher than the price of hunkering down until it all went away.
HARASSMENT CULTURE
The awful thing is that harassment doesn’t have to be as gross as Weinstein’s to stifle women’s careers. Disney and Pixar boss John Lasseter was accused of inappropriate hugging and touching of female colleagues. While John himself has acknowledged his “missteps” and apologised, studio executives who knew about this reportedly responded by keeping young women away from Lasseter, one of the most powerful men in animation. And if it’s true those women aren’t allowed in the room where ideas are shared and decisions made, how do they advance up the ladder? How can they impress the boss when they’re not allowed near him for their own safety? In this way, the creepy knock-on effects of harassment culture hold back all women, while allowing their male colleagues to continue their careers without a hitch.
Similarly, people who responded to the current panic by suggesting that women should never meet men in private are really suggesting that women be held back from opportunities that remain open to men. At least as long as the people in charge are mostly men. But in the longer term, that’s going to have to change, because having more women in positions of authority is the best way to stop this behaviour from developing.
EMPOWERED WOMEN
That’s why it’s good to see women who have power in the entertainment industry – the producers and A-list stars whose names can get a script into production – are beginning to use it. There were reports that Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot had refused to sign for the sequel while Brett Ratner, accused of exposing himself to multiple actresses, something he categorically denies, was still named as a producer on the film. After Ratner left, she didn’t quite deny the story. “There are so many people involved in making this movie, it’s not just me, and they all echoed the same sentiment,” she told the America Today show. “Everyone knew what was the right thing to do. There was nothing for me to actually come and say, because it was already done before this article came out.”
Some people have called the whole thing a witch hunt, but we all know there are no actual witches, so a witch hunt is, by definition, a useless endeavour that targets innocent people (usually women, historically). This is a hunt for harassers, and in almost every
‘We need a zero-tolerance attitude to abuses of power’
industry they exist and have gone unchecked for too long.
FUTURE BENEFITS
So, what happens now? In the past, those accused of outrageous behaviour would often go into rehab for a bit and emerge to find themselves welcomed back by Hollywood – look at Mel Gibson, who was briefly a pariah, but is now appearing in the cosy family Christmas film, Daddy’s Home 2 .
Weinstein and Spacey both tried to take the route of apologising (sort of) and disappearing to a spa for a week. But it doesn’t look like it will be so easy this time. The question is how long we can maintain this momentum. Hollywood – and every industry – needs to start punishing those who harass more harshly than it punishes the (usually junior) people who report it. Let’s hope we get a zero-tolerance attitude to abuses of power, and support for victims.
In the end, this will – honestly – benefit all of us. Women (and men) will no longer see their careers stall because someone in a position of power makes sexual favours a condition of advancement. More women in senior roles could help make the culture less aggressive and exploitative, which is good news for everyone. And we’ll be acting on the beliefs we all share about equality, instead of saying one thing and seeing another. This year’s been tough, but it could make for a better world.