Sexual Harassment in the Entertainment Industry

Earning a spot and creating a name for oneself is not an easy task when it comes to entertainment; there are a copious number of people with tremendous talent walking in and out, hoping to take your spot. For instance, Kevin Spacey was a very successful man in the entertainment industry who thought he could commit any acts, without being persecuted. However, after the first accusation came 23 others. As if the accusations were not enough to diminish his career, he took his statement to social media and came to terms with sexual orientation as a way to change the real issue. This not only made him look bad, but it also brought back the false stigma behind the LGBTQ+ community. These allegations took his name out of the entertainment industry and made sure he had no ties to anything he was working on, or anything in his future, ultimately ending his career right then. One mistake leading to many more, Spacey was fired from a very popular show, “House of Cards.” Aside from ruining his own reputation, he also destroyed the reputation of the show itself, which has driven the director to think about ending the show for good. As many people come and go in the industry, it has become very easy to replace one actor in an instant, while completely forgetting about the initial actor; therefore, he has already been replaced in “All the Money in the World.” Although he brought about a statement to social media, he never mentioned if his allegations were true or false, but in instances like these, it does not make a difference. After years and years of success, Louis C.K. was hiding behind a wall that was going to eventually fall to expose the truth. This happened after he was accused of many women for committing sexual acts without their consent. Even though he did apologize for doing such things, it was not going to make a difference. His planned release of “I Love You, Daddy” immediately halted, and got the public to start questioning the title. Therefore, even after years of working to giving your name a high earned title, in such a meticulous industry, every move needs to be carefully thought out as it can be taken away in seconds.

As easy as it has been to get the name of sexual assaulters in the media, in the long run, it has not been easy for women to come across with their voices. 10 years ago, even 5 years ago, most women would not dare to speak if they were assaulted. Usually in the entertainment industry, it is a man’s voice over a woman’s, which is the reason why most women stay quiet and suffer through the thoughts of being a sexual assault victim. There was always the fear of whether they would not be believed, or their perpetuator would come back for them for saying such things. This is why women have always had a hard time when it comes to speaking out; they’re still an easy target no matter what. However, social media has taken a shift towards creating a safer environment and future for women. For instance, a couple years ago #FreeKesha originally started as a hashtag on Twitter to raise awareness for the continuous stigma behind sexual assault as well as social injustice in the entertainment industry. As that was a new shift towards bringing awareness, in the beginning when Kesha had came out to the public as a sexual assault victim, nothing had happened to the producer who committed such acts. This raised an outpour of support for Kesha and everyone else who had spoken about being a victim. Even though in the end she was free from the contract, she went through many more months of suffering as she was forced to work with her assaulter and had no way out of it, but to let go of her career. Although that was one of the very few social awareness hashtags on social media, movements like these continued to grow until women knew they had much more power collectively. With the power of social media in the 21st century, recently one hashtag has provided women with enough confidence to come about with their stories and post them onto social media for awareness. That hashtag being #MeToo, tweeted by Alyssa Milano, turned into a worldwide movement. There should have never been a need for a hashtag to go viral for people to finally start believing women when they spoke about being victims, but this hashtag finally gave women the first voice instead of being like a backtrack of a song. Not only did this hashtag provide women the ability to turn their lives around and be able to bring about awareness as a result of personal experiences, but it also gave them the power to diminish one man’s success towards a better future for women. As the entertainment industry is seen to be a “man’s world,” whether it be actors or singers, this movement gives women the chance to persecute the men who thought they could get away with every little thing. Just by tweeting a simple hashtag, movements like these have been able to create a physical presence where digital protesters have come out in the flesh to fight for what they believe in.

Before Trump had even run for president during the 2016 election, his sexual assault victims were coming out to warn the public of who we were thinking about electing. However, the public still had their doubts on whether to believe them or not since they only started to speak out as the election was close. Although the women who claimed being one of his victims, they did not get what they were hoping to get, that being the impeachment of Trump; however, they did put a bad name towards him as he is now seen as a sexual predator by many people. These accusations have not come as a shock towards Trump as he has strongly mentioned what he believes he is able to do at his position when it comes to women, and even his daughter, to misogynistic comments. Alongside of his corruption to the government, these constant accusations deem to illustrate how much power men think they have without thinking of consequences. Not only has this been a problem revolving only around Trump, but also many other public officials who are still in power. No matter how many times they call their misogynistic comments as “locker-room talks,” they have done nothing but create a greater fear for women, while also creating a terrible reputation for themselves. However, alongside of Trump comes many more public officials who have put their jobs at risk. For instance, Congressman Ruben Kihuen, Republican candidate of Nevada, has put his position at risk as he has been accused of making multiple sexual actions towards a former aide during the 2016 election. As a result of this, while his case is under investigation, he has been repeatedly asked to resign his position as well. However, the disparities between being a public official and an ordinary celebrity is that while celebrities lose their career right away, public officials are still running office and being called “The President of the United States.” Public officials and celebrities, both, have to be prosecuted regardless of where they are with their career. As their names start to show up more in the media and the more people become aware of their actions, the easier it will be for them to resign from their own positions and realize they were never deserving of such success.