Time Asia - October 24, 2017

TIME October 23, 2017

The View

‘Just talking

to you about

it, my whole

body is

shaking.’

ASIA ARGENTOto the

New Yorker

but he’s a social pariah, with his reputation as a

goofy sweater-wearing patriarch in tatters. Then

in July 2016, Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson

filed a lawsuit against Roger Ailes, alleging years

of sexual harassment from the Fox head honcho.

Within days, more than half a dozen other women

told stories of their own, and Ailes was fired

before the month’s end (albeit with a $40 million

severance package).

In October of that year, the WashingtonPost

published a video of Donald Trump bragging

about grabbing women’s genitals. More than a

dozen women came forward to say he had done

some version of just that, from forcibly kissing

them to sexually assaulting them. (He denied the

accusations.) Between January and April, it came

to light that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly had settled

millions of dollars’ worth of sexual-harassment

claims. Some of the stories had been previously

reported, but after Cosby, Ailes and Trump,

they took on new urgency and were treated with

newfound seriousness. O’Reilly, too, was fired.

EACH OF THESE HIGH-PROFILE CASESechoes

the last and accelerates the next. Toppling the first

few titans was a heavy lift, and while it’s still not

easy, each successive predator seems to fall that

much faster. Feminists have succeeded in getting

sexual harassment and assault taken seriously

enough to be career-ending. News organizations

increasingly recognize that breaking these stories

benefits both their reputations and their bottom

line—the first to get there sets the media narrative

for days or weeks. With each of these stories, you

can imagine the newsroom dictates: Find the next

Weinstein. And, if you’re the kind of person to

whom someone might talk about these things, you

hear women whisper: Should I speak out about

my own Weinstein?

This growing cacophony of mostly female

voices no doubt has the remaining Weinsteins of

the world holding their breath. But since the story

broke, there has been a collective exhale among the

women finally speaking out about “casting-couch

culture,” as Glenn Close put it in her statement

condemning Weinstein. On the heels of the initial

reports, Gwyneth Paltrow said that when she was

a 22-year-old actress, Weinstein called her into a

meeting in his hotel room, put his hands on her and,

after her then boyfriend Brad Pitt confronted him

about the harassment, threatened her to keep quiet.

In theNew Yorker, writer Ronan Farrow detailed

additional accusations, including rape, and

described the well-staffed machine that deceived

young women into spending time alone with a

man everyone knew was a predator. Weinstein

was not a solo operator, and now his vast network

of enablers is also falling under the scrutiny of the

entertainers, journalists and activists who expect

heads to roll. Weinstein’s connections, political and

professional—his power—have not protected him.

Amid the wave of allegations and outcry from

other Hollywood luminaries, Weinstein was fired.

The Weinstein Company’s all-male board was

divided on his fate. Within 48 hours, four board

members had resigned.

Weinstein had hobnobbed with the Democratic

elite, including the Obamas and the Clintons.

(Malia Obama was an intern at his company.)

He had donated to prominent Democrats,

including Elizabeth Warren and Al Franken.

After the allegations surfaced, the Beltway cohort

renounced him: the Obamas released a statement

saying they were “disgusted” by the reports,

and many Democrats turned the money he had

donated over to charity, claiming Weinstein’s

reputation hadn’t traveled from L.A. to D.C.

But the Weinstein saga nevertheless quickly

became a political volleyball. Where was

Hillary Clinton’s denouncement? asked Donald

Trump Jr. Why did the liberal media cover this

up? wondered right-wing pundits. Clinton said she

EMMA DE

CAUNES

Says Weinstein

got naked in a

hotel room and

told her to lie

down on his bed

in 2010

JESSICA BARTH

Says Weinstein

asked her to

give him a naked

massage in bed

in 2011

GWYNETH

PALTROW

Says Weinstein

touched her and

suggested they

give each other

massages in the

1990s

ANGELINA JOLIE

Says she had a

“bad experience

with [Weinstein]

in my youth”

TOMI-ANN

ROBERTS

Says Weinstein

asked her to get

naked for him in

1984

ROSANNA

ARQUETTE

Says Weinstein

wanted a

massage and

attempted to

make her touch

his penis in the

1990s

$40.

million

Sum of monetary

benefits

claimed outside

of litigation

for sexual

harassment in

2016

S

d