Why haven’t the men of Hollywood spoken up?

AS THE actresses of Hollywood continue to cop a nasty backlash over the Weinstein scandal, some people are getting a mystifying free pass.

OPINION

HOW did Hollywood’s hypocrisy on Harvey Weinstein become the responsibility of his leading ladies?

Last week The New York Times published an explosive report detailing at least eight settlements between mega-producer Weinstein and various women in his employ. Over the course of decades, sexual harassment and assault allegations were covered up in the — highly successful — pursuit of preserving Weinstein’s wealth, power and influence in Hollywood.

Weinstein has since been fired by the film company that bears his name and over the weekend, a slew of articles appeared everywhere from the Daily Beast to the UK’s Telegraph asking why Hollywood’s elite had so far failed to condemn his appalling behaviour. Hollywood, while vibrantly parading in support of progressive causes and the rights of women, is disturbingly willing to protect its own.

Rose McGowan, one of the actresses who reached a settlement with Weinstein, said on Twitter “Ladies of Hollywood your silence is deafening”. Indeed, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet and so-called Queen of Hollywood Meryl Streep, were all called out as winning Oscars for Weinstein-backed films but keeping silent in the immediate aftermath of the New York Times piece.

In the past 24 hours I’ve been asked twice, on two separate television programs, why more women celebrities haven’t spoken out. Women specifically. Criticism of Hollywood’s silence is apparently a criticism only of Hollywood actresses’ silence. It’s a critique that has been keenly felt, with a number of high profile women including Dame Judi Dench, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson, making statements in the past few days. Overnight Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie said that Weinstein sexually harassed them earlier in their careers.

But. What. About. The. Blokes.

“Some male stars have also spoken out to denounce Weinstein” Vanity Fair casually mentions, an afterthought buried at the tail end of an article. It’s as if the many famous actors whose careers Weinstein has launched are somehow less relevant to a discussion of sexual assault than their women co-stars. Apparently, they’re off the hook. Yet it is they who have the least to lose by speaking out. While it’s true some men such as George Clooney are now speaking out, it took time — and there are many other men in Hollywood that are yet to say anything.

Harvey Weinstein had a lot of power over young actresses such as Rose McGowan. Picture: Getty

The casting couch cliché may be old but that doesn’t make it any less real. Weinstein commanded the kind of wealth and influence that could make or break a young actress’ fledgling career.

“How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?” is what Ashley Judd recalls thinking when she first met him in the mid-90s.

The actresses who crossed Weinstein’s path would have been well aware of his dominance in the industry, desperate to please him at whatever cost. So too would the far less vulnerable — and arguably complicit — people who surrounded those young fame seekers. The producers, the agents, the financiers, the casting directors and the established actors — most of the men — were also aware and subject to a less vertical imbalance of power.

Weinstein and those in positions like his can give the gift of fame, money and success to anyone deemed worthy. He was revered in Hollywood, even referred to by Meryl Streep in an awards acceptance speech as “God”. That Weinstein was allegedly allowed to trade on this power while consistently and continually taking sexual advantage of women without their consent is a travesty.

It’s also a travesty that more people in positions of power didn’t do more to stop him. Yet they stayed silent and they stay silent still. Russell Crowe and Matt Damon have even been accused of supporting the cover up of a Weinstein expose some thirteen years ago.

Hollywood is not the only industry with a sexual harassment problem, and there are lessons to be taken from this affair that apply to all workplaces. We must learn to hold women and men to the same standards. While the expectation that powerful women in Hollywood condemn Weinstein is absolutely valid, the same expectation must be placed on men.

Otherwise we reinforce a culture that says this kind of harassment is a problem for perpetrators and for women only. It’s not. When we tolerate the jokes and lewd remarks, when we walk on by, when we excuse a culture that allows sexual predators and misusers of power to flourish, we relinquish our power to change that culture. And in these situations the power remains concentrated amongst men.

So to the blokes out there, I’d say this:

Next time you see inappropriate behaviour at work and think to yourself, “Nah, I shouldn’t say anything. I’m not really involved … it’s doesn’t affect me personally so its none of my business” — stop yourself. That is precisely the moment to say something and to get involved because you aren’t in the vulnerable and god-awful position of being personally affected. Credit should be paid to Judd Apatow and Mark Ruffalo, two Hollywood heavyweights who moved quickly to lend their support to Weinstein’s accusers.

Instead ask yourself if you’d be okay with the women in your workplace being subjected to the kind of predatory treatment that Weinstein is alleged to have engaged in. And if the answer is no, then do something about it. Speak up and speak out because more often than not, women aren’t going to be in a position to do the same.