Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s name has now become synonymous with women sharing stories of harassment and assault.
Every allegation has one thing in common: a person in a position of power abusing said power in order to orchestrate his own agenda, at the detriment of someone else.
And the sad truth is that this scenario isn’t new to many who have been through a range of experiences that made them feel vulnerable.
report that 17 per cent of women and four per cent of men have experienced sexual assault since the age of 15. One key thing that these Harvey Weinstein cases have us wondering is whether these statistics are, in reality, the tip of the iceberg.
Every allegation has one thing in common: a person in a position of power abusing said power in order to orchestrate his own agenda, at the detriment of someone else.
When I was 15, one of the male managers at the fast food chain I worked at part-time asked me for a massage.
“Um, no,” I replied, confused about why he’d ask me to do that. (I mean, why didn’t he just go to a massage therapist if his shoulders were so tight?)
“I don’t think you understand me,” he said. “You have to give me a massage.”
“No, I don’t.”
“All the other girls do it.”
All I wanted to do was work, and I told him so. “Can I just clock on and get to work?”
And so he, grumpily, made me lean over him to reach the computer. As I worked, he made my life hell – all while making a big deal about how “good” one of the other girls was for giving him a massage during that shift. Gross.
At 19, the co-owner of the small business I worked in would stand there and watch me. Sometimes this went on for half an hour at a time. When I questioned him, he said, “I just want to watch those sexy legs all day”.
I started asking my then-boyfriend to not just drop me off at work in the mornings, but to come inside with me – although I never told him why.
Which is what a lot of women do: we don’t tell anyone about it. They either won’t believe us or, in my case, I thought they might just say, “Pffft. That’s nothing! You’re taking it the wrong way!”
It seems that people – women, men, everyone – are being given the chance to speak up about their own experiences as we watch the predatory behaviours being revealed from Hollywood.
Following the stream of harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, has started a hashtag encouraging people to share their stories.
The hashtag #MeToo is now flooded on Twitter and Facebook as people not only share their experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault, but also show the magnitude of this problem – right across the globe.
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