More and more women are coming out with stories of harassment and assault from movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. We look at the Weinstein scandal, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
The ugly gusher of reports of sexual harassment by Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein got a lot bigger yesterday. Stomach-turning reports from women from all over the world, and big Hollywood names – Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie. Weinstein joins a parade of big names too: Roger Ailes, Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly – and, for that matter, President Trump. After silence, women are speaking out. This hour, On Point: After Weinstein. What would it take – culturally, legally – to stop this? —Tom Ashbrook
Guests
Rebecca Keegan, Vanity Fair Hollywood correspondent. (@ThatRebecca)
Jennifer Drobac, professor of law at Indiana University and an expert on sexual harassment. (@profdrobac)
Elahe Izadi, pop culture writer for the Washington Post. (@ElaheIzadi)
From Tom’s Reading List
The New Yorker: From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories — “For more than twenty years, Weinstein has also been trailed by rumors of sexual harassment and assault. This has been an open secret to many in Hollywood and beyond, but previous attempts by many publications, including The New Yorker, to investigate and publish the story over the years fell short of the demands of journalistic evidence. Too few people were willing to speak, much less allow a reporter to use their names, and Weinstein and his associates used nondisclosure agreements, monetary payoffs, and legal threats to suppress these myriad stories.”
Marketplace: Sexual Harassment In The Workplace Isn’t Just Perpetrated By Co-Workers Or The Boss — “If a company knows an employee is being sexually harassed and does nothing about it that it is engaging in its own form of harassment by creating a hostile work environment, said Jennifer Drobac, a professor at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. But despite women’s advances in the workplace, the number of sexual harassment suits has remained constant since the 1990s. Drobac said many people are still hesitant to report sexual harassment, whether because they are afraid or because they simply do not recognize it.”
The Washington Post: Sexual Harassment And Rape Accusations Pile Up Against Harvey Weinstein — “The twin stories were devastating to Weinstein’s legacy and reputation, which already had been badly damaged last week by a Times story reporting that Weinstein had reached monetary settlements with eight women who alleged he had pressured them for sex. Those revelations forced the board of the Weinstein Co. to fire him as co-chairman Sunday.”
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