Every day new stories of sexual assault and/or harassment emerge – not only from Hollywood stars and not only in relation to Harvey Weinstein – but from women all over the world from all walks of life.
The latest women to share their stories of sexual assault since the allegations against Harvey Weinstein were made are Hollywood stars Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Lawrence.
Both made the revelations at the ‘Elle Women in Hollywood’ event on Monday.
In a speech Reese Witherspoon, 41, shared that she was sexually assaulted by a director at the age of 16. She did not reveal the director’s name.
Jennifer Lawrence says she was told to stand in a naked line-up with five other women.
“This has been a really hard week for women in Hollywood, for women all over the world, and a lot of situations and a lot of industries are forced to remember and relive a lot of ugly truths,” the Oscar winner said.
“I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly and I find it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate a lot of the feelings that I’ve been having about anxiety, honest, the guilt for not speaking up earlier.”
“[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment,” she added.
Brad Pitt, who was dating Gwyneth Paltrow at the time, confronted Harvey Weinstein about allegedly assaulting Paltrow.
At the same event Jennifer Lawrence revealed that a female producer once made her stand in a “nude lineup” with five other naked women, with the reasoning behind it – to ‘inspire’ her to lose weight.
“We all stood side-by-side with only paste-ons covering our privates. After that degrading and humiliating line-up, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet,” she reportedly told People.
When she spoke to someone about the unrealistic diet regimes she was being expected to follow by those working on the film “he responded by telling me he didn’t know why everyone thought I was so fat, he thought I was perfectly ‘f**kable’.”
Angelina Jolie has claimed Weinstein made unwanted advances in a hotel room, which she rejected.
The Oscar winner said she allowed herself to be “treated a certain way because I felt like I had to for my career”.
The two stars’ revelations follow a slew of shock allegations levelled against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, three of which now include rape.
Gwyneth Paltrow has alleged that Weinstein assaulted her, and Cara Delivigne has also claimed to be a victim of Weinstein.
Angelina Jolie has alleged that during the release of Playing by Heart in the 1990s, Weinstein made unwanted advances on her in a hotel room, which she rejected.
The New York Police Department has launched a criminal investigation into Harvey Weinstein.
As the allegations continue, women all over the world and including in New Zealand have responded by running with a #Metoo campaign ignited by Hollywood star Alyssa Milano. Milano’s former Charmed co-star, Rose McGowan, has also made accusations against Harvey Weinstein.
On Monday Milano tweeted, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted, write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”
The hashtag has been tweeted more than half a million times and more than six million Facebook users have put it in a status update.
Some women are sharing their stories of harassment and assault. Some are just leaving it at “me too”.
Our feeds on our personal Facebook accounts have been flooded with #Metoo posts since Monday, sparking conversations and the sharing of stories in our homes and in our work spaces.
We hope it makes a difference.
