Harvey Weinstein Is Everybody’s Problem And This Is Why

There’s yet another storm in Hollywood. Yet another man cast under a dark spotlight. Here’s why Harvey Weinstein is everybody’s problem.

The name Harvey Weinstein is now in every headline, every Twitter feed and everybody’s mouths – which is what always happens with the “scandal of the day”. As many famous actresses are stepping up to accuse the Hollywood mogul, many of their male colleagues are feeling “outraged” by the man’s actions.

For decades, this man abused probably hundreds of women (and maybe men, who knows) and nobody in Hollywood’s big family knew about it? Sounds silly to think so.

Omerta – the conspiracy of silence that helps every type of bad behaviour to spread and stay unpunished – resides in Hollywood as well.

As Emma Thompson said during a recent interview on Newsnight, “This man is at the top of a very particular iceberg… (At) the top of the ladder of is a system of harassment, and belittling, and bullying, and interference”.

I don’t think you can describe him as a sex addict, he’s a predator – that’s different.

A system that exchanges meritocracy for personal favours (sexual or of other sorts), that I am sure we all know well. You can be a journalist, a nurse, a secretary or a cook — you will find your very own “Harvey” and it is genderless.

The problem is harassment, yes, but the problem is also silence and fear. The same silence and fear that protected Weinstein for so many years, is protecting the whole iceberg. In Hollywood and elsewhere.

If there is one thing that we can take away from this dirty story of power and abuse, it’s that speaking up for ourselves does work. We can learn that one voice can collect many others and that together we can change things. It might be slow but it can happen.

So raise your voice today by leaving Twitter alone and join Rose McGowan in her virtual silence, to demonstrate that you can’t be silenced.