Actress and writer Jane Fonda got right to the point during a conversation about producer Harvey Weinstein’s recently exposed predatory behaviour on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes on Wednesday.
“It feels like something has shifted,” she told the talk show host. “It’s too bad that it’s probably because so many of the women that were assaulted by Harvey Weinstein are famous and white and everybody knows them. This has been going on a long time to black women and other women of colour and it doesn’t get out quite the same.”
Harvey Weinstein’s long list of A-list accusers have included Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd and most recently, Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe; Lupita Nyong’o penned an eloquent and chilling retelling of her encounters with Weinstein for The New York Times earlier this month.
This past March, Jane Fonda revealed in an interview with Brie Larson that she too is a survivor of rape and sexual abuse.
“I’ve been raped, I’ve been sexually abused as a child and I’ve been fired because I wouldn’t sleep with my boss,” the Hollywood veteran and activist said during the Net-a-porter interview. “I always thought it was my fault; that I didn’t do or say the right thing.”
“I know young girls who’ve been raped and didn’t even know it was rape,” she continued. “They think, ‘It must have been because I said ‘no’ the wrong way.’”
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, who appeared alongside Fonda on All In to talk about Hollywood’s culture of power and abuse, added that the number of women who have come forward to accuse Weinstein of wrongdoing has also contributed to the changing climate.
“If you steal money, you probably get arrested and convicted, because everybody says stealing is wrong,” she said. “But if you do something that is very sexist or racist, because there still is a critical mass of bias in this country, it takes more cumulative instances for it to be recognized. So we have reached a tipping point, I think.”
Weinstein has roundly denied any allegations of non-consensual sex, and is currently seeking treatment at an Arizona sex addiction rehab centre. Judd, who came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against the movie mogul, said in an interview on ‘Good Morning America’ on Thursday that Weinstein is “sick and suffering”.
“There is help for a guy like you, too,” she said when asked what she would say to the producer. “It’s entirely up to you to get that help.”
Published in Daily Times, November 1st 2017.