In 2017, Alyssa Milano tweeted “me too'” and a viral movement against male violence against women in Hollywood was born: “If all the women who have been sexually assaulted or harassed wrote ‘Me Too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” Half a million people responded on the first day.
At the centre was Harvey Weinstein, a renowned film mogul and producer. On the 5th of October, 2017 (a now infamous) expose published by The New York Times was published, detailing decades of sexual assault accusations against him, with actors such as Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd coming forward.
Since then, many more women have bravely told their stories and taken him to trial. All the while, Weinstein has protested his innocence. In 2019, he gave an interview to the New York Post, saying he had overseen “more movies directed by women and about women than any film-maker.” He added, “I pioneered it! It all got eviscerated because of what happened. My work has been forgotten”
In response, a statement from 23 female accusers said: “Harvey Weinstein is trying to gaslight society again.”
They uncovered the Harvey Weinstein sex abuse scandal.
In February 2020, Weinstein was found guilty (after five days of deliberation) of a criminal sexual act in the first-degree and third-degree rape. He was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison, avoiding a life sentence after being acquitted of the most serious charges against him (first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault). On the 29th of May 2020, he was accused of sexual assault by four further women. In April 2021, Weinstein’s lawyers launched an appeal against his conviction (which the court rejected), and in July of the same year, he was put on trial again, where he pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in a Los Angeles court.
In October of 2022, five years after the initial expose was published, Weinstein went on trial in LA once more, facing 11 charges involving five alleged victims. In december he was found guilty by a LA jury and just last week, on 23 February 2023, he was sentenced to an additional 16 years in prison for the 2013 rape of an actress in Los Angeles.
At the Los Angeles Superior Court, he begged for lesser punishment, telling the court “Please don't sentence me to life in prison. I don't deserve it.” Protesting that there were too many “loopholes” in the case, and calling one of his accusers an “actress with the ability to turn on her tears.”
It seems Weinstein cannot accept his fate. Despite being found guilty of sexually assaulting multiple women, he continues to victim-blame his accusers and shrug off accountability.
"Some who die by suicide may be ‘hidden victims’ of domestic abuse, left uncounted and unrecognised.”
On the surface, his lack of remorse may seem like just another heinous characteristic of one of this decade’s most villainous public figures. And it is. But it’s also more than that; it’s patriarchy at play, bullish misogyny, and sadly, not surprising.
Weinstein is the most prolific abuser in Hollywood, but he’s certainly not the only one or just a ‘bad apple’. He is, however, one of the few perpetrators to be uncovered during #MeToo and Time’s Up movements whose victims have found legal justice. Weinstein and R. Kelly have been imprisoned for their crimes, and the former ‘Today’ show host Matt Lauer has left the public eye. However, apart from them, the men of #MeToo have barely faced any consequences. If anything, they have been given public rehabilitation and redemption arcs.
Louis C.K. admitted to wrongdoing when in 2017, five women accused him of masturbating in front of them and issued a public apology almost immediately after the allegations: “I left these women who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around other men who would never have put them in that position.” In 2022, Louis C.K. won a Grammy, for work which made light of his actions. In 2023, his Madison Square Garden show sold out.
Dustin Hoffman, was accused of sexual misconduct by five women in 2017, two of whom said they were minors at the time of the assault. He issued an apology, admitting his guilt, and using the well-worn line, “I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am”. He went quiet for a short while and denied subsequent allegations, but now, aged 85, he’s back working in film.
Chris Brown, the R&B singer, has had a long history of violence against women. In 2009, he violently assaulted Rhianna. The police report read, “Robyn F. turned to face Brown and he punched her in the left eye with his right hand. He then drove away in the vehicle and continued to punch her in the face with his right hand while steering the vehicle with his left hand.” In January 2022, a 20 million dollar lawsuit was filed against him, accusing him of drugging and raping a woman on a yacht in Florida. Page Six reportedly obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which Brown seemingly referenced on his Instagram story, saying, “I HOPE Y’ALL SEE THIS PATTERN OF . Whenever I’m releasing music or projects, ‘THEY’ try to pull some real bullsh[*]t.”
Brown is playing London’s O2 Arena this month.
One post simply requested ‘F*cked on her back please’ alongside an image of a woman fully clothed, holding a baby.
Most of the men supposedly held to account by #MeToo have gone unscathed. Their careers have bounced back, they have not faced legal consequences, and they have apparently not shown genuine remorse. In stark contrast, a lot of the women who’ve come forward have since lost their careers and faced an onslaught of online harassment, slut shaming and trolling.
Violence against women and girls is a plague. It’s a pandemic. And we’ve barely scratched the surface of how deep it runs. In the UK, only 1 in 100 rapes recorded by police in 2021 resulted in a charge that same year, let alone a conviction. We live in a time where members of the Met Police are the perpetrators of VAWG, when they should be the persecutors.
Weinstein’s conviction is the exception to the rule, and the fact he’s faced legal consequences is down to the hard work of those women in Hollywood who brought about the #MeToo movement. Instead of becoming a symbol for how insidious VAWG is, especially amongst men with power to abuse, his guilt has been used to temper and gaslight women. We’re told, by the actions of society, and the rehabilitation of men like Brown and C.K., VAWG is not ‘that serious’ and that they deserve a second chance.
Weinstein has seen how quickly our post-#MeToo society scrambles to redeem perpetrators; perhaps it's no wonder that he can't accept his fate;
For more information about reporting and recovering from rape and sexual abuse, you can contact Rape Crisis.**
If you have been sexually assaulted, you can find your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre here. You can also find support at your local GP, voluntary organisations such as Rape Crisis, **
