Since the #MeToo Movement, hundreds of women have had the courage to speak out against the abusers that have sexual harassed or sexually assaulted them. Over a short time, many men came to the fact that their actions would finally have serious consequences.
In a poll conducted by ABC News, 95% of women who have experienced “unwanted sexual advances in the workplace” stated they believed their “male harassers usually go unpunished” (Langer). A main reason why sexual predators go unpunished is because they are usually men in power. Abigal Saguy, a sociology professor at UCLA, perfectly explained the reason when she stated:
“One of the reasons it is men who harass women…is that this is about power and overwhelmingly (workplace) upper management is male, so the positions of power are disproportionately occupied by men and the bottom is disproportionately occupied by women” (Puento).
If women are being harassed by their powerful bosses, who are people going to believe? A low-level woman of color, or a successful man? Unfortunately, it is usually the second.
It is this very reason why women have rejoiced over movements such as #MeToo and TIME’S UP. Men are finally facing consequences for the heinous actions they have committed. This is especially seen in Hollywood as celebrity after celebrity are losing jobs over allegations they are facing. Here are just a few:
Harvey Weinstein. The name alone causes people, especially women, to cringe. For those who aren’t aware of who this man is, Weinstein co-founded Weinstein Company– a business that produced movies such as Vampire Academy and Django Unchained. In October of 2017, New York Times released an expose which accused 
Weinstein of harassing women for decades. The New Yorker added fuel to the fire by writing an “even more explicit report, with several more women going on the record against Weinstein with allegations of harassment, abuse, and rape” (Framke and Grady). Since then, 84 women have come forward accusing Weinstein of sexual crimes (Moniuszko and Kelly). Thankfully, this man received punishment as he was quickly fired from his own movie company. He hadn’t faced any criminal charges until last month when New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman filed a civil rights lawsuit against Weinstein (and the Weinstein Company) for “vicious and exploitative” treatment of employees, and “egregious violations of New York’s civil rights, human rights, and business laws,” (Ruiz). If you are interested in reading more about his situation you can here. Weinstein’s predatory behaviors were a hidden secret in Hollywood that needed to come out and thank goodness it did.
Another man that tumbled off of his pedestal was none other than Matt Lauer. Lauer was an anchor on the “Today” 
Show and was fired from NBC after a sexual misconduct accusation. After he was fired, more about his disgusting actions came to surface including “lewd sexual remarks about female colleagues; he once invited a female employee to his secluded office, then showed her his penis; he gave one female colleague a sex toy with ‘an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her'” (Desta). These reports came from Variety after a two month long investigation that included dozens of interviews from current and former staff (Setoodeh and Wagmeister). Lauer is another man who believed his actions wouldn’t have any consequences due to his position of power, but he has been proved very wrong.
The last person that should be brought up is actor Kevin Spacey due to how he responded to his accusations. On October 29th, 2017, Spacey faced his first allegation of sexual misconduct, and within a week he had 14 more. The victims have come forward with allegations that “he sexually harassed, assaulted or attempted to rape” (Puente- Kevin Spacey). After the allegations he was fired from Netflix’s hit show House of Cards which he starred in. Since the 
firing, Spacey has entered rehabilitation and his representative stated, “Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment,” (Birnbaum). People responded with criticism to his apology as Spacey came out as gay in response to the allegations from men, ultimately making a link between his sexuality and the abuse he caused–as if that excused his behavior (Weaver and Convery).
Although many are supportive of women, and men, sharing their stories, there are those who accuse the entire situation as a plan to tear down all men. One man who thinks this is Franklin Raddish, a Southern Baptist, who said the accusations are a “war on men” (Puente). Unfortunatly, he is not that only person who thinks this way as many argue that women are just jumping on the bandwagon and are making up false accusations. It is sad that victims are not able to share their stories in a world where everybody is supportive and there isn’t any criticism or victim-blaming. This just exemplifies the idea that there is still a long way to go in fighting sexual harassment.
It is important to remember that although these are the stories that have been publicized, so many stories go unreported and unheard. The fight is far from over and it is up to everybody to help.
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Such a well-researched blog post. Honestly, really enjoyed how you called out those big name men who are accused of (and admitted to) sexual assault — and included a picture of their faces up close and personal. It’s scary to me how under-reported sexual assault is—this represents such an injustice and is horrible to think about. I wonder how we can all play a bigger role in making sure these atrocities are better reported and perpetrators are punished.
It is sad to see the terrible truth revealed about people that were once looked up to and were a source of entertainment for so many. I find the counter-argument for the MeToo campaign – the people that claim it is an attack on men – to be a desperate attempt at reassuring what sexual abusers are doing is acceptable behavior. Your post shines light on this very important topic.