By Izabella Zimirowicz and Léa Nakache
A lot sexual harassment cases were a false secret in Hollywood: nobody talked about it, but everybody knew. Until now. Six months after the Weinstein Scandal, and the beginning of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, many victims of sexual harassers within the cinema industry have found the courage to speak up. But will it really change something?
Here is an overlook of the general situation.
More than 100 women have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault or rape, making it a case apart which does not reflect the general situation. Therefore, the "type of harassment" and "victims' profession" charts only includes one of his cases.
Several heads of the industry have fallen, and it is no surprise that a lot of them have won prestigious prizes... despite some of their peers knowing their behaviour.
Some may find it surprising at how many of their favourite or well-known actors' have been accused of sexual abuse, whether the fact was well known or not. Director Bryan Singer, has been accused of child abuse, however, unlike many, he had faced the consequences. On December 7TH 2017 attorney Jeff Herman filled a lawsuit against Singer when Cesar Sanchez-Guzman where he accused the director of sexually assaulting him when Sanchez-Guzman was only 17 (in 2003). However this would not be a first for Singer, 1997, he was accused by a 14-year-old extra, of asking him and other minors involved in the project, to film a nude shower scene for a film called Apt Pupil. The boy’s claims were later backed up the other two minors (aged 16 and 17). However in the end the lawsuit that was filed was dismissed for insufficient evidence.
Another famous case would be that of Roman Polanski. In 1977 Polish-French director Roman Polanski was arrested and charged for fie offenses against Samantha Geimer, who at the time was aged 13. His charges were: rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14 and providing a controlled substance to a minor. Upon hearing that he would most likely face imprisonment and deportation, Polanski fled to France, where he has lived since and has avoided visiting countries that would give him up to the United States.
The most important thing to remember here is what Roman Polanski actually did. It is easy to go off topic and say that maybe the now-deceased judge made a mistake that somehow allowed Polanski to flee, or how maybe not enough has been done to try to bring him to justice. You can discuss that he directed fantastic movie’s which will always be remembered in the history of cinema. The French authorities tried to play down Polanski’s crimes and have tried to focus on his work as a film director. That is the issue with the film industry in general. Not necessarily in Hollywood only, but the film industry all over the world. How can we as people, defend someone’s actions only because, for example, they have directed great movies?
We interviewed Fay Maxted, the Chief Executive of the Survivors Trust, as she spoke out about the infamous Roman Polanski case, "I think his case really highlights how fickle and how difficult it can be to show everyone that here is someone who has behaved in a truly reprehensible way and for example, actors coming forward and supporting him, you know he's never been held to justice, he managed to avoid that, and you know he has supporters in Hollywood and I think it shows that people can feel torn and not really want to believe that this person has behaved in such an awful way."
The point Fay made, about people feeling torn and not wanting to believe in allegations, is probably the main reason as to why so many of the people in Hollywood have never been brought to justice or are only now being brought to justice.
"However, I think there is a difficult aspect of this. Where if someone goes on to social media and just names people and I think that process could be misused."
This is why the work of charities such as Into The Light, which focus to help women and men who were sexually abused as children, are important. Speaking with Rebecca Mitchell, who works with Into The Light a charity that provides counselling and support to survivors of sexual abuse, about the TimesUp movement, she has said"I think thought it needs to bring change of culture and that is around power. For example an aide of the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein talked about the legal advice she was given and why she did not take action against her former boss when she discovered he assaulted her colleague. "I was told that wasn't even worth considering because of the disparity of power." (Guardian 28.03.2018) I believe that there needs to be a strict code of conduct and accountability of behaviour (along with severe penalties for those who abuse their position) at all levels of the media industry and any other industry."Mitchell also mentions that she is not surprised by the fact that people within industry have gone unpunished "Having worked with Survivors for nearly 25 years I am very familiar with the fact that people from all classes and professions of society abuse children. This is backed up by research. In 2010 the NSPPC reported that one in four offenders convicted of child internet porn held positions of trust including teachers, clergy and medical professionals.”A most recent accusation is that actor James Franco. Actress Tither-Kaplan said that Franco approached her and a few other women to ask if they would want to film a “bonus scene” of an orgy. In the scene, Tither-Kaplan appeared fully nude. In the scene, Franco simulated performing oral sex on each of the women, reported Tither-Kaplan. But in each case, she said, he would remove the plastic that was covering their vaginas- carried on simulating oral sex with no protection.
Things are beginning to look up for the future of Hollywood. let's hope that things continue to change and that those responsible will finally be brought to justice to face the consequences of their actions.
"And it goes to show how rife and common sexual abuse and sexual violence is."
