The Society of Mildly Annoyed Liberals 57 members · 0 stories
Comments ( 4 )
  • Viewing 1 - 50 of 4
Jesse Coffey
Group Admin

It's been a year since the powerful Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein first saw signs that his world was ending. An article by none other than Ronan Farrow of THE NEW YORKER, and another from THE NEW YORK TIMES, alleging that numerous women, including Ashley Judd, had sexually harrassed or assaulted them, and there was even a report that he raped some of them.

His whole world collapsed after that. Weinstein was fired from the Weinstein Company, expelled from the Motion Picture Academy, and has been charged with rape and other offenses in New York. The Weinstein Company itself sold two projects it was preparing for release to Warner Bros., filed for bankruptcy, and sold itself to Lantern Capital, who rechristened it to Lantern Entertainment on July 16.

His story marked a seismic shift in what behavior is tolerated in the workplace, as a cascade of high-profile men, many in the entertainment and news media industries, have since been fired or forced to resign after accusations of sexual misconduct that ranged from inappropriate comments to rape. The movement where this takes place is called #MeToo, and sometimes uses the name #TimesUp; Wikipedia calls this movement the "Weinstein effect". The tale of this movement, over the course of this past year, falls into several categories.


THOSE WHO GOT AWAY WITH IT


There are 19 or so people who have made it past sexual harassment allegations with NO repercussions on their career. Ben Affleck, George H.W. Bush, Sepp Blatter, Richard Branson, Miguel, Geraldo Rivera, John Travolta, Jesse Jackson, Roy Moore, Lars Von Trier, President Trump, Jann Wenner, James Deen, Ken Friedman, Brett Kavanaugh, Jann Wenner, Ryan Seacrest, Chris Hardwick and Oliver Stone. Seven have been accused of groping. Three have been accused of sexual assault. Deen was accused of rape. The rest have been accused of sexual harassment. Affleck apologized. Brandon, Friedman, Jackson and Rivera apologized after previous denials. The rest have all denied their allegations.


THOSE WHO FADED FROM VIEW


Sam Adams, John Conyers, Blake Farenthold, Al Franken, Trent Franks, John Hockenbarry, Sam Isaly, Ruben Kihuen, Alex Kozinski, Patrick Meehan, Les Moonves, Michael Oreskes, Shirvin Pishevar, Roy Price, Eric Schneiderman, Russell Simmons, Eric Weinberger and Bob Weinstein all have one thing in common: You don't hear their names very often anymore. This is what the movement has done to all these individuals. Franken and Kihuen, both Democratic politicians, were accused of groping, denied it, and then apologized for it. Simmons, the man behind the iconic rap label Def Jam, was accused of rape and denied it. Those who were accused of sexual assault on that list are CBS chief Moonves and former New York Attorney General Schneiderman. Both denied it; Moonves apologized. The rest have all been accused of sexual harassment, with seven denying it, three denying and apologizing for it and two not responding to requests for comment. Franks in particular resigned after reports surfaced suggesting he paid $5 million to a woman just so she could be his surrogate mother.


THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FIRED


#MeToo has accomplished an exhaustive list of such people. They are Asia Argento, Mario Batali, Louis C.K., Heath Evans, Marshall Faulk, Mark Halperin, Matt Lauer, James Levine, Donovan McNabb, T.J. Miller, Bill O'Reilly, Jeremy Piven, Brett Ratner, Terry Richardson, Charlie Rose, Chris Savino, Tavis Smiley, Kevin Spacey, Jeffery Tambor, Ike Taylor, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber, Leon Wieseltier and Steve Wynn. Six have been fired for sexual assault, including Argento, who helped to front the movement in the first place. Ratner, Richardson and Wynn were ousted for accusations of rape. C.K.'s 2017 film I LOVE YOU, DADDY has never been released due to allegations of sexual misconduct on his end. Faulk, Tambor and Weber were fired for groping. The rest were all fired for sexual harassment. Batali, Halperin, Rose and Spacey all denied and then apologized for sexual harassment. Wieseltier, the former editor of the NEW REPUBLIC, apologized, as did Louis C.K., who said his allegations were true; Savino also contributed an apology for his allegations. Levine sued for defamation and breach of contract, Ratner sued for defamation, and Smiley went on a nationwide tour to defend his innocence following his dismissal from his PBS talk show. Taylor, a former cornerback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, did not respond to requests for comment. The rest have all denied their allegations.


THOSE WHO ARE BEING SUED


Six of those who had been fired from their jobs (Levine, O'Reilly, Rose, Smiley, Weber, Wynn) are on this list; Wynn, after the loss of his job, was sued by two massage therapists. They claimed the casino mogul forced them into sex and threatened them with large security dogs, and Rose is sued by three junior employees, who viewed his sexual harassment as blatant and repetitious. The others who are being sued are: Paul Haggis (a screenwriter who sued after he had been received what he deemed were false accusations of rape), Nelly (a rapper and singer who had been arrested for rape, denied it, and was then sued for defamation), Bryan Singer (X-MEN series director who had been accused of child molestation and denied it), Jameis Winston (quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who had denied an allegation of sexual assault and then apologized for it).


THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN OR ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION


A special prosecutor is involved in an ongoing investigation into Schneiderman for abusing women he was romantically involved with. Spacey stated that he would be seeking "evaluation and treatment" for his behavior and is being investigated in the UK and in the US. The other names on this list are as follows:


THOSE WHO WERE CHARGED FOR SEX CRIMES


Sex crimes landed prison sentences for Bill Cosby (top left) and Larry Nassar (bottom) and criminal charges for Harvey Weinstein (top right). Photo credits: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania/Paul Shankbone, Wikipedia/USA Today Network

A small number of people actually had this happen to them, more or less as a result of #MeToo. The three most notable are named here.

Comedian and entertainer Bill Cosby was accused by more than sixty women of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct by more than sixty women. By now, the statute of limitations has expired in many of the cases. He was charged with sexually assaulting and drugging former college and Canadian national team basketball player Andrea Constand in January of 2004. This was the result of the accusations made by Constand about the January 2004 incident, including revelations in Cosby's 2005 deposition in the case which came to public and investigators' attention when they were unsealed by a judge in 2015. Cosby was found guilty of all three counts against her on April 26, and on September 25, he was sentenced to 3-10 years in state prison. Upon his release, he must spend the rest of his life as a registered, sexually violent predator.

In addition to his being kicked out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the studio formerly known as the Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein has been suspended or expelled from dozens of other institutions. His wife, Georgina, abandoned him. He resigned from the Director's Guild of America. He was suspended from the British Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. And on May 25, the New York Police Department charged him with "rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women". After surrendering to the NYPD, he was arrested. Later, he was released after $1 million of bail was posted on his behalf. Weinstein later surrounded his passport, and was required to wear an ankle monitor. He can now only go to two states: New York and Connecticut. His lawyer said Weinstein would plead not guilty.

Larry Nassar, formerly a U.S. Gymnastics doctor, was called out for sexually assaulting gymnasts as young as six years old during what he dubbed "treatments". His first accuser was Rachael Denhollander The allegations were first reported in 2006 by the INDIANAPOLIS STAR, and he now serves life in prison because more than 150 women have come out since then.


BUT THAT'S NOT ALL


The Presidents Club, an annual charity dinner, was a casualty of the #MeToo movement, as Madison Marriage of the Financial Times was one of two reporters who went undercover as waitresses to uncover widespread sexual misconduct at the place. Douglas E. Greenberg, a broker for Morgan Stanley, was put on administrative leave after THE NEW YORK TIMES outlined harassment allegations by four women, multiple arrests for violating restraining orders, and threatening to burn an ex-girlfriend's house. The porn industry has discussed numerous plans for the post-#MeToo era, as it has been suggested that porn may have played a role in the rise of the movement. Sexual harassment is, believe it or not, most commonly seen in the military; this led to the introduction of what came to be known as the Military Justice Improvement Act by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in 2013. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) has introduced the Member and Employee Training and Oversight on Congress Act, which makes sexual harassment complaints easier to report on Capitol Hill.


YOUR VIEWPOINT


What are your thoughts on the impact of the #MeToo movement? What good do YOU think it's done? What more is to be done to combat sex crimes in many arenas? Tell us below.

SuperPinkBrony12
Group Admin

I think the movement is doing good, but I feel like it is also not able to distinguish between minor offenses like groping or one off sexual harrassments that by all means had no profound psychological impact on the accusers, and more serious allegations as seen with high profile people like Weinstein, Trump, Cosby, and Nassar.

The original allegation against Al Franken in particular, while shameful, shouldn't have been grounds for him to resign. Paying a woman to be a surrogate mother though was definitely going too far, and the Democrats were right to ask then that he resign. The GOP seems to be banking on the movement's constant allegations in the media to spark a backlash and make people sick of it, but in reality they would be better off sidelining those accused until it can be determined whether they did or didn't do what they were accused of.

CSC
CSC #3 · Oct 3rd, 2018 · · ·

6606881
100% agree

SuperPinkBrony12
Group Admin

6607003 The allegations against H. W. Bush in particular are a good example of the movement getting too swept up in its perceptions. By all accounts it was one incident that happened on the campaign trail, Bush didn't do it intentionally and never brought it up again, and the woman still worked on his campaign and likely assumed it was a harmless thing and filed it away.

  • Viewing 1 - 50 of 4