By Ashley Anthony
If you have been following international news, you would be aware of the controversy surrounding Harvey Weinstein, a famous producer. Weinstein has been the centre of a sickening scandal: one concerning sexual harassment and assault. The story, which broke on October 5, explained that Harvey Weinstein had been paying off ‘sexual harassment accusers’ for decades. Since that publication by The New York Times, inspired by the confidence shown by the women who spoke out, numerous actresses have come forward detailing their stories, including multiple accusations of rape.
In the wake of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the #metoo began to resurface. The hashtag has its origins in 2006 when activist Tarana Burke used the phrase on MySpace to promote “empowerment through empathy” amongst women of colour who have experienced sexual abuse, particularly within underprivileged communities. She said that the idea spurred from when she was unable to respond to a 13-year-old girl who had told her she’d been abused. Burke related that in retrospect, she wished she had simply said “me too”. On October 15, 2017, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged women to use the phrase as part of an awareness campaign to demonstrate how widespread the problem was, tweeting: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too.’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” The hashtag trended in more than 85 countries, with some women even naming their abusers. Within the first 24 hours, on Facebook, the tag had been used more than 12 million times.
Whilst the conversation surrounding the controversy has been largely supportive of the women, there are, of course, those who take this time to blame the victim, and to cast doubt on the accusers. This victim blaming comes in degrees, varying from subtle comments such as those by Mayim Bialik, which implied that making “wise” choices such as the one to dress modestly had spared her from abuse in Hollywood, to ones from Donna Karan, who said, “You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble.” These comments seem eerily familiar to sentiments raised by Guyanese in response to the murder of Kescia Branche. The incident occurred some time during a night out, and many Guyanese criticised her for partying. They attacked her saying that as a teacher, she should have had more ‘proper’ behaviour, and numerous comments were cautionary to all women, with one saying that they should “be home with their kids and stop the night life”. It seems as though people don’t understand that women are at risk for sexual and physical abuse even when they are completely sober and dress modestly.
If a person had a gorgeous house, would you blame them if their house was broken into? Is it their fault for owning such lavish things and tempting thieves? Of course not. No one would shame the owner of the house for buying fancy décor, so why do we shame women for dressing a certain way? Victim blaming in these situations makes it seem as though the woman could have prevented or controlled this situation, when in many cases this is not true. If all women dressed modestly, never went out, and never flirted with men, there would still be cases of sexual and physical assault. It should not fall upon the woman to change her behaviour, but upon the perpetrator.
