Embedded Files
Harvey Weinstein will spend the rest of his life in prison and new measures to protect women from sexual violence are being taken around the world. What a time to be alive.
Content warning for discussion of sexual violence.
The Me Too Movement
Rose McGowan via People
Anyone in the film industry will know producer Harvey Weinstein’s name. He’s worked on Tony-winning plays and has even won an Oscar for his work, but that’s not what he will be remembered for. Over the duration of his career, one hundred and seven women have reported sexual harassment and assault against Weinstein.
The allegations started in 2017 when the media became aware of a settlement Weinstein gave actress Rose McGowan back in the late nineties for sexual assault, and McGowan was willing to share her story. The more journalists looked into it, the more settlements they found. That November, a group of Weinstein’s victims publicized a full list of abuse allegations spanning over thirty years.
In response to Weinstein’s accusations, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” Milano specified that her intention was to make victims feel less alone while “without having to go into detail about their stories if they did not want to”. “Me Too” had initially been coined by activist Tarana Burke in 2006, and Milano’s use revived the phrase. This led to the peak of the Me Too movement, where millions across the country demanded a change in how sexual misconduct is addressed.
Victims did not want their experiences to be swept under the rug. They wanted accountability. They wanted to be heard, to not be treated as a taboo. By sharing their stories, victims gave others a support system to take action against their own assailants.
The exact number of predators fired as a result of the Me Too movement is unknown, but reports of workplace harassment increased 12% in 2017 alone. This isn’t because there was more harassment, but because more people felt comfortable reporting it. High-profile employees from a variety of companies were fired and replaced with women. Many companies have adopted zero-tolerance policies on sexual misconduct. This is known as the Weinstein Effect.
It wasn’t until May of 2018 that Weinstein was arrested by the state of New York and charged with two counts of sexual abuse. He was found guilty and sentenced to 23 years. Then in February, of 2023 the state of California found Weinstein guilty of three counts of abuse and received an additional 16 years. Seeing as Weinstein is seventy years old and in poor health, he will foreseeably spend the rest of his life in prison. If these allegations had been taken seriously sooner, fewer women would have been hurt.
The women who took a stand against Weinstein have changed the country’s perception of workplace harassment. Reporting misconduct is more common, as is action resulting from reports. The world is safer because of women like Rose McGowan and Alyssa Milano, women who were willing to take a stand.
Learn About a Powerful Woman
Chanel Miller, via The Cut
Meet Chanel Miller, a young graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara. She studied literature and developed strong writing skills. While accompanying her sister to a college party, Miller misjudged her alcohol tolerance and became incoherent. While unresponsive, a Stanford student assaulted Miller. Two men witnessed the attack, chased off the assailant, and called an ambulance.
The assault made national headlines when a local website reported the attack and highlighted the assailant’s swimming times at the bottom of the article. As if the most important detail of a sexual assault was the athletic capability of a rapist.
Although there was medical evidence and multiple witnesses, the rapist pleaded not guilty. His lawyers tried to argue that Miller could be lying, that just because she was intoxicated didn’t mean she couldn’t consent, that she had gone to the party with her sister so clearly she wasn’t in any danger. The rapist was found guilty and prosecution recommended a six-year sentence, the maximum sentence for the crime being fourteen years.
The judge sentenced the rapist to six months of prison time.
He was out of jail after three.
“The night the news came out I sat my parents down and told them that I had been assaulted, to not look at the news because it’s upsetting, just know that I’m okay, I’m right here, and I’m okay. But halfway through telling them, my mom had to hold me because I could no longer stand up.”
"You have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again."
“At the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times. ‘She was found breathing, unresponsive with her underwear six inches away from her bare stomach curled in a fetal position. By the way, he’s really good at swimming.’ Throw in my mile time if that’s what we’re doing. I’m good at cooking, put that in there.”
“I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else.”
“Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.”
Via Buzzfeed, content warning: the victim statement is graphic and upsetting.
The judge cited rapists’ young age, lack of prior convictions (despite other women filing complaints of sexual harassment days prior to the attack), and the “severe impact” jail time would have on the rapists’ life.
Known by the alias “Emily Doe”, Miller’s victim statement addressing her assailant was posted to Buzzfeed. It received eleven million views in a four day span, sparking outrage that a judge was more concerned with protecting a rapist than protecting the woman whose life was ruined.
Miller’s prose broke the hearts of women around the country. The superior judge who sentenced the rapist was recalled and a bill proposing a minimum three-year sentence for sexually assaulting an intoxicated person was signed into law. As for Miller, she took classes at Rhode Island School of Design as a form of art therapy. She broke her anonymity by publishing a memoir, Know My Name, which was regarded as a powerful and beautifully written success. A mural drawn by Miller was featured in The Asian American Art Museum of San Francisco.
Chanel Miller turned her pain into art, but she should never have had to deal with that pain in the first place.
Additional Information
Recent Women's Rights Victories
Hungary and Honduras have their first female presidents.
Spain has passed a bill to both specify the legal definition of consent— meaning staying silent would legally mean “no”— and offer paid leave to people with period pain.
Ukraine’s parliament has ratified an international treaty to protect women from domestic and sexual violence.
Days You Should Know
March 8th: International women’s day*
Second Sunday of May: Mother's day
August 26th: Women's equality day
November 25th: International day for the prevention of violence against women**
December 10th: International day for human rights
*Read more: Theresa Malkiel
**Read more: The Mirabal sisters
By Camille Muñoz
Roosevelt High School
Published March 21, 2023
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