By BRIANNA ROBLES
Staff Writer
Harvey Weinstein, an American film producer, in recent news has been accused of several sexual assault and rape charges. For the past few decades, it has come up that Weinstein has had many sexual assault encounters with employees, few of which confronted Weinstein about his actions. One of his employees, who wishes to be anonymous states that Weinstein “forced himself on me sexually.”
In addition to his employees, several celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, have come out with their own allegations against Weinstein. Paltrow expresses that she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein when she was offered a role in one of his movies. She explains that he put his hands on her and suggested they go to his bedroom during a so called “business meeting”. She felt “vulnerable” because Weinstein had given Paltrow her first main role and she eventually won an award for the same role.
Jolie also expressed that she had bad experiences with Harvey when she was younger and refused to work with him again. Harvey, in reference to those whom he came in contact with, believed all of the cases were consensual and he will take responsibility for his actions and try to get some help.
Although, Weinstein doesn’t deny these allegations, there is a possibility that he may not be charged for all of them depending on where they happened and the year in which it happened. For example, Weinstein has a case pending in New York for sexual assault but because it happened before 2006, when there was no statute of limitations for sexual assault cases, they cannot be brought up rightly in the court of law.
Since these allegations, Weinstein has been fired from Weinstein Company movie studios, which the board is considering renaming, and he has had his name removed from show credits as the board claims that “These allegations come as an utter surprise to the Board. Any suggestion that the Board had knowledge of this conduct is false.”
Imagine being blackmailed by your boss because instead of being assaulted you actually want to work. Ridiculous, right? The allegations against Harvey Weinstein are absolutely disgusting and disturbing. It is quite sickening to know that women can’t even work without men pushing themselves onto their employees. It’s sad that he couldn’t control himself and learn how to separate work from pleasure.
Women should not have to be threatened with losing their job because they won’t pleasure their boss. The fact that he thought assaulting his employees when they are simply there to work is in my opinion degrading. By Weinstein sexually assaulting them, he is implying that their work alone is simply not good enough and they must be oversexualized in order to have any value to him.
Until men think of women as actual people and not sexual objects, women will continue to be taken advantage of. Weinstein should be severely punished for making women feel uncomfortable in general but specifically while they’re trying to make a living. A huge amount of attention should be brought to this issue because other people in the entertainment could be doing this. This case will be the window for other celebrities, both male and female, to come out about other black mailings that happen in order for them to receive a role or a record deal.
