Why #MeToo matters

The conspiracy of silence around sexual abuse must end

Over the past fortnight, several Hollywood actresses, both past and present, accused Harvey Weinstein, the co-founder of the Weinstein Company and one of the world's most successful film producers, of sexually abusing them. A series of reports in leading global publications gave out sordid details shared by many women, including top stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, about how Weinstein used his immense clout in making or breaking careers in Hollywood to seek sexual favours from his leading ladies. As the days rolled on, the list of women protesters just kept growing and blew the lid off a deep set system of abuse in the most influential film industry on the planet. 

Initially, of course, most of the accusations were met with complete denials from Weinstein’s office. But as an investigation by the New York Times showed Weinstein had in the past allegedly paid undisclosed sums to at least eight women, stretching over the last three decades, the pressure kept building. Several current and former employees in the film industry as well as emails and internal records presented a very different picture of a producer who has to his credit some of the biggest blockbusters as well as some of the most acclaimed movies of all time, including five best-picture Oscars. As A-list stars joined in — over 30 women have come out accusing him of abuse, including rape — events reached a breaking point and Weinstein, notwithstanding his powerful status in the industry, was fired by his company. He was also dropped from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has become a social pariah since then.

While the accusations are in stark contrast to Weinstein’s image in society — “a liberal lion, a champion of women and a winner of not just artistic but humanitarian awards”, according to NYT — yet this is not the first time someone well-known has been found guilty of sexual abuse. Just in the past year or so, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Fox's new presenter, Bill O’Reilly, have had to resign owing to sexual harassment allegations. Indeed, current US President Donald Trump has had a long list of similar allegations against him.

The real issue is the shameful conspiracy of silence that has allowed such pernicious behaviour to go on unabated. For example, many men in Hollywood are now saying they all knew that Weinstein was a sexual predator. So why were they silent for so long? The unpleasant truth also is that such abuse exists in all walks of life, and women suffer not just the abuse but also the humiliation of not being able to speak about it or seek justice. That is why the viral hashtag #MeToo on Twitter and other social media platforms, which appears to have started in the wake of the Weinstein story, matters more than the story itself. 

Over the last two weeks more and more women from all walks of life and across the planet are sharing their suffering and abuse under #MeToo to make two essential points. One, that they stand by women who have suffered abuse elsewhere and two, they want to bring to light the magnitude of the problem. As of Thursday, well over a million tweets had been shared just on the #MeToo tag. But in many countries similar tags in local languages, #balancetonporc in French, #YoTambién in Spanish, #quellavoltache in Italian, #UsToo in Hebrew and #Anakaman in Arabic, have also gone viral. This movement shows the extent of the problem because that is the essential starting point to curing this malaise.