by Lizzie Howe
It’s time for a change in conversation about feminism in the twenty-first century. Many prophesied 2018 as a ‘post-Weinstein’ era, in which rampant sexism and sexual assault would be a thing of the past, and abusive men consigned to the annals of history. Unfortunately, this movement has proved that although there needs to be a reevaluation of feminism in the 21st century, the current reevaluation has utterly missed the mark.
After several accusations against Harvey Weinstein, who allegedly had attacked and assaulted multiple young women seeking a career in the film industry, the floodgates opened in the American media. One such example of this was a list published by Buzzfeed, listing every woman who had allegedly been attacked by Weinstein, of which some were credible and others were less so. Due to relatively relaxed defamation laws, which place the burden of proof on the accused rather than the accuser, it became easy for woman after woman to point fingers at men for outrageous and unchecked behaviour - some of which was entirely justified, and yet some of which managed to hijack the movement into a direction that led it far from the realms of credibility.
The pinnacle of female empowerment apparently came during the Golden Globes, when the red carpet was festooned with women in black. Although this was in theory to be a defiant stand against the tyrannical men in the industry who had been in power for too long; in reality, it became an exercise in vanity. Many of the dresses were more glamorous and expensive than had been seen in many years. Bianca Blanco, who turned up in a red dress, was reportedly snubbed by the other women at the event, proving that female solidarity was clearly a central theme to the evening.
Although the Time’s Up Movement did attempt to address issues affecting women universally, one being the potential establishment of a legal fund consisting of $13 million for lower-income women seeking justice for workplace assault, this has been ignored in the loud conversations over injustice in Hollywood. Although sexism and abuse should be vilified in every industry, when the conversation becomes solely about a very small number of women in a very small and specific industry, it is frustrating to read as what seems to be a genuine vehicle for change becomes bogged down in the issues which, to be frank, do not demand the greatest attention.
"There's a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?”. This phrase, spoken by Matt Damon and immediately attacked for being tone deaf and “dense” (according to Rose McGowan) in the wake of the Time’s Up movement, lays out the heart of the issue in Hollywood. Whilst it is awful that women face forms of sexual harassment in any industry, it cannot be ignored that there isa gradient of offences, and sometimes disregarding this can be just as ignorant and offensive as claiming that no issue exists in the first place.
As 2018 has progressed, women in Hollywood have begun to slowly forget and move on from the brief moment of defiance that last year seemed to bring. At the Oscars they quietly returned to wearing brightly coloured dresses, and there was only one speech celebrating the women of the audience, although Jimmy Kimmel made several jokes alluding to the Weinstein incident, including a reference to The Shape of Water: "We will remember this year as the year men screwed up so badly, women started dating fish!”. Whilst this self-deprecating humour did gain howls of approval from the audience, it is frustrating for anyone watching to see this immense platform slowly slip away as a new year begins.
In 2018, it’s time to change the conversation on feminism. Women in the western world do still face issues as a result of gender, but institutionalised discrimination is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. For example, despite Helena Normanton becoming the first practising female lawyer in the UK only 98 years ago, now 68% of Law students, or 12000 people, are currently women. Therefore, now there is a unique platform for people coming of age in the next few years to turn to the developing countries in the world and seek to destroy the injustices faced there today that were faced nearly 100 years ago for women in Britain.
To give some insight into the global issues faced by women each year, the UN website provides useful, if not horrifying, statistics: Worldwide, almost 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday, in West and Central Africa, over 4 in 10 girls were married before age 18, and about 1 in 7 were married or in union before age 15; 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone female genital mutilation in 30 countries, in most of these countries, the majority of girls were cut before age 5; and finally, women and girls account for 71 per cent of global trafficking, with girls representing nearly three out of every fourth child trafficked. This does not negate the issues women still face in the western world, Forty-three per cent of women in the 28 European Union Member States have experienced some form of psychological violence by an intimate partner as of 2014. All of these issues are incredibly important to challenge, and rather than focussing on the issues of a tiny and specific industry as it swamps media outlets continually, it is time for people everywhere to set aside these issues and work towards a future in which no woman faces the threat of being forced into a relationship, marriage, or sexual encounter against her will, rather than continuing a conversation that is slowly stagnating and failing to produce meaningful change.
Here are some links for websites who support some of the issues I have mentioned above, provide more information, and ways to donate:
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