Fear not. Luckily, I am not one of the girls who’s been thoroughly victimized by a man and this is not a post to draw attention to my woes. Rather, this is to turn eyes and educate minds on what MeToo was actually started for and how its meaning has been vehemently bargained in the last one year. Before getting right into the evolution of the movement, I would like to divulge a few details about the actual roots of this movement because in the recent developments related to the movement and the kind of movements I see Metoo ushered into, I feel there is a tremendous need to educate the masses, boys and girls alike to know the actual meaning of the movement before opening their blabbering lips and muttering bombastic words out aloud.
The initiation of this umungous movement was officially on Oct 5, 2017 when reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey pressed charges of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein, the executive producer blaming him of harassment and paying out eight settlements to different female workers, actresses and models through his company, the Weinstein Company which was formerly known as Miramax and is responsible for producing some of the best films of the ‘90s and 2000s. This news might not had gained momemtum if five days later, another reporter Ronan Farrow of NBC had not brought out sixteen other women all linked to Weinstein in some professional way or the other, with a similar story of sexual harassment tried to be settled by an out-of-court settlement. This was followed by a social media post when Amber Anderson, an actress known for The Riot Club, posted to Instagram on Oct. 16 that Weinstein “coerced” her into a private meeting. “He behaved inappropriately and propositioned a ‘personal’ relationship to further my career whilst bragging about other actresses he had ‘helped’ in a similar way,” she wrote. “He tried to take my hand and put it in his lap which is when I managed to leave the room.” Then, Rosanna Arquette, 58, told The New Yorker she rebuffed an early 1990s advance from Weinstein, saying he asked for a massage while wearing only a bathrobe. She said the producer told her she was making a “big mistake” by rejecting him and claimed he had made things “very difficult for (her) for years.” Lena Headey, 44, who plays Cersei on Game of Thrones, shared a series of tweets on Oct. 17 describing an incident in 2005 involving "some suggestive comment, a gesture” from Weinstein. Years later, she said she also experienced him asking her personal questions about her love life before asking her up to his hotel room.
Between these major developments, there were constant allegations by women from all over the world who said that they had in some way or the other exploited by Mr Weinstein. The movement gained a different level when Angelina Jolie told the Times that during the release of Playing By Heart, she rejected advances by Weinstein in a hotel room. She was 23 at the time. “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Jolie explained in an email to the newspaper. Gwyneth Paltrow, 45, also told the Times that before shooting Emma when she was 22, Weinstein summoned her to his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a work meeting which ended with Weinstein placing his hands on her and suggesting they head to the bedroom for massages. “I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she said.
Following this, a gigantic wave of posts on social media and news channels hit the world where more and more women came out sharing their horrifying experiences with Harvey Weinstein on different dates which scattered so much on the timeline that it looked almost impossible to believe that a man could single handedly operate such a thing for so long a time which long later was found that it was not. I am attaching a link to the list of the victims who came out with their harrowing stories.
The crimes were organizedly perpetrated through a network of workers with the company. Some did it for money while some others just didn’t say a word so as to maintain the sanctity of the company as well as their jobs. So, by the end of 2017, 85 women accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment out of which eighteen women accused him of rape which included the whos-who of Hollywood, Rose McGowan and many others. As a result of this infamous tide and continual lawsuits against Harvey Weinstin, he had to be removed from his own company and also was expelled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In order to generalize this occurrence at such a world class level happening to the utmost secrecy of everybody, the world was forced to think that if independent high ranking actresses could not speak up to such atrocities of a movie mafia like Weinstein, how unlikely is such an occurrence in any workplace? )On October 15, 2017, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged spreading the hashtag #MeToo, to attempt to draw attention to sexual assault and harassment. Hence, the movement began and gained a lot of impetus all over the world bringing horrific crimes and a lot of helpless women were relieved from fearing monsters for the rest of their lives.
Cut two, almost a year later, India finds #MeToo interesting. On 26 September 2018, after having been out of the Bollywood spotlight for about a decade, actress Tanushree Dutta gave an interview to Zoom TV in which she publicly accused Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her on the set of the 2009 movie Horn 'Ok' Pleassss. This declaration would be seen as the catalyst of the Me Too movement in India, similar to one which happened in the U.S. a year earlier with Harvey Weinstein, in which more and more women in the entertainment industry would publicly announce high-profile individuals who had sexually exploited them. Dutta had first made the allegations against Patekar in 2008, filing a complaint with the 'CINTAA' (Cine & TV Artists Association), but no action was taken as the case was considered a criminal case. The allegation was repeated in 2013 in an interview, and again largely ignored. It was not until her September 2018 statements that the CINTAA apologized to Dutta, admitting that the "chief grievance of sexual harassment wasn't even addressed [in 2008]", but added that since the case was more than three years old, they could not reopen it. In October 2018, in an interview with Huffington Post India, a former employee of Phantom Films accused director Vikas Bahl of sexually harassing her on the set of the film Queen (2014). Later, the film's lead actress Kangana Ranaut, in support of the former employee, also accused Bahl of sexual misconduct. Following this, Nayani Dixit, Ranaut's co-star in the movie, levelled similar accusations against Bahl. As a result, Phantom Films announced its dissolution on 5 October 2018, largely in response to the sexual assault allegation against Bahl by another former Phantom employee, which was reported in 2015. The other three founders, Kashyap, Motwane, and Mantena, all issued statements on Twitter confirming the company's disbanding and moving on to independent projects. In October 2018, veteran character actor Alok Nath was accused of rape by TV producer Vinta Nanda who worked with him in the TV show Tara in the mid-1990s. Alok Nath has denied the allegation. Subsequently, actresses Renuka Shahane, Himani Shivpuri, Sandhya Mridul, and Deepika Amin have either admitted to knowing about Nath's predatory behaviour or written about instances where they themselves have been assaulted by him. On 14 November 2018, the CINTAA expelled Alok Nath from their organization after he failed to appear at a body meeting on 12 November to discuss his rape accusations against Vinta Nanda, and instead sent a response to the 'show-cause' notice instead. CINTAA secretary general Sushant Singh noted that the group's EC (Executive Committee) "unanimously voted him out." On 21 October 2018, singer/composer/TV show judge Anu Malik was asked to step down from judging the reality TV show Indian Idol 10 after being accused of sexual harassment from multiple women. And so on and so forth!
The situation today is devastating. With so many reputed names of the industry getting embroiled in this dirt, this scenario is pitiful from every angle. So many news are coming into view where the woman has deliberately spreaded molestation rumours for some personal or professional benefit. Although, this percentage is very small but its existence cannot be denied. If even one of the hundreds of women who have come out with their experiences are lying about being mistreated then that means these women will bargain their own self-respect to get a flick of fame, news headlines and a week of interviews which is such a sorry state of affairs and if they are not, if every single one of the reports which are coming out every day is true and the people with the most power are doing nothing but exploiting their resources to bully young women and rob their dignity, then we live in a cruelly hopeless world, indeed.
On this day, my earnest request to all of you is to allow #MeToo reach its maximum success. Let this be a platform of reminder to all those women who have ever been touched inappropriately or non-consensually that they are not alone, that the world has not come to an end, that there is a way out of the most heinous things in this world and that no matter how impossible it might seem at the start, it will get better tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or the day after that day ‘cause it might be a bad day but its not a bad life. Let it not be misused by some women to meet their petty needs or be an overnight Insta Star or worse, garner a load of sympathy and pity. Let #MeToo flourish for what it was made for so that it eradicates a share of the world’s evil and this can be a slightly better home for us.
The initiation of this umungous movement was officially on Oct 5, 2017 when reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey pressed charges of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein, the executive producer blaming him of harassment and paying out eight settlements to different female workers, actresses and models through his company, the Weinstein Company which was formerly known as Miramax and is responsible for producing some of the best films of the ‘90s and 2000s. This news might not had gained momemtum if five days later, another reporter Ronan Farrow of NBC had not brought out sixteen other women all linked to Weinstein in some professional way or the other, with a similar story of sexual harassment tried to be settled by an out-of-court settlement. This was followed by a social media post when Amber Anderson, an actress known for The Riot Club, posted to Instagram on Oct. 16 that Weinstein “coerced” her into a private meeting. “He behaved inappropriately and propositioned a ‘personal’ relationship to further my career whilst bragging about other actresses he had ‘helped’ in a similar way,” she wrote. “He tried to take my hand and put it in his lap which is when I managed to leave the room.” Then, Rosanna Arquette, 58, told The New Yorker she rebuffed an early 1990s advance from Weinstein, saying he asked for a massage while wearing only a bathrobe. She said the producer told her she was making a “big mistake” by rejecting him and claimed he had made things “very difficult for (her) for years.” Lena Headey, 44, who plays Cersei on Game of Thrones, shared a series of tweets on Oct. 17 describing an incident in 2005 involving "some suggestive comment, a gesture” from Weinstein. Years later, she said she also experienced him asking her personal questions about her love life before asking her up to his hotel room.
Between these major developments, there were constant allegations by women from all over the world who said that they had in some way or the other exploited by Mr Weinstein. The movement gained a different level when Angelina Jolie told the Times that during the release of Playing By Heart, she rejected advances by Weinstein in a hotel room. She was 23 at the time. “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Jolie explained in an email to the newspaper. Gwyneth Paltrow, 45, also told the Times that before shooting Emma when she was 22, Weinstein summoned her to his suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for a work meeting which ended with Weinstein placing his hands on her and suggesting they head to the bedroom for massages. “I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,” she said.
Following this, a gigantic wave of posts on social media and news channels hit the world where more and more women came out sharing their horrifying experiences with Harvey Weinstein on different dates which scattered so much on the timeline that it looked almost impossible to believe that a man could single handedly operate such a thing for so long a time which long later was found that it was not. I am attaching a link to the list of the victims who came out with their harrowing stories.
The crimes were organizedly perpetrated through a network of workers with the company. Some did it for money while some others just didn’t say a word so as to maintain the sanctity of the company as well as their jobs. So, by the end of 2017, 85 women accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment out of which eighteen women accused him of rape which included the whos-who of Hollywood, Rose McGowan and many others. As a result of this infamous tide and continual lawsuits against Harvey Weinstin, he had to be removed from his own company and also was expelled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In order to generalize this occurrence at such a world class level happening to the utmost secrecy of everybody, the world was forced to think that if independent high ranking actresses could not speak up to such atrocities of a movie mafia like Weinstein, how unlikely is such an occurrence in any workplace? )On October 15, 2017, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged spreading the hashtag #MeToo, to attempt to draw attention to sexual assault and harassment. Hence, the movement began and gained a lot of impetus all over the world bringing horrific crimes and a lot of helpless women were relieved from fearing monsters for the rest of their lives.
Cut two, almost a year later, India finds #MeToo interesting. On 26 September 2018, after having been out of the Bollywood spotlight for about a decade, actress Tanushree Dutta gave an interview to Zoom TV in which she publicly accused Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her on the set of the 2009 movie Horn 'Ok' Pleassss. This declaration would be seen as the catalyst of the Me Too movement in India, similar to one which happened in the U.S. a year earlier with Harvey Weinstein, in which more and more women in the entertainment industry would publicly announce high-profile individuals who had sexually exploited them. Dutta had first made the allegations against Patekar in 2008, filing a complaint with the 'CINTAA' (Cine & TV Artists Association), but no action was taken as the case was considered a criminal case. The allegation was repeated in 2013 in an interview, and again largely ignored. It was not until her September 2018 statements that the CINTAA apologized to Dutta, admitting that the "chief grievance of sexual harassment wasn't even addressed [in 2008]", but added that since the case was more than three years old, they could not reopen it. In October 2018, in an interview with Huffington Post India, a former employee of Phantom Films accused director Vikas Bahl of sexually harassing her on the set of the film Queen (2014). Later, the film's lead actress Kangana Ranaut, in support of the former employee, also accused Bahl of sexual misconduct. Following this, Nayani Dixit, Ranaut's co-star in the movie, levelled similar accusations against Bahl. As a result, Phantom Films announced its dissolution on 5 October 2018, largely in response to the sexual assault allegation against Bahl by another former Phantom employee, which was reported in 2015. The other three founders, Kashyap, Motwane, and Mantena, all issued statements on Twitter confirming the company's disbanding and moving on to independent projects. In October 2018, veteran character actor Alok Nath was accused of rape by TV producer Vinta Nanda who worked with him in the TV show Tara in the mid-1990s. Alok Nath has denied the allegation. Subsequently, actresses Renuka Shahane, Himani Shivpuri, Sandhya Mridul, and Deepika Amin have either admitted to knowing about Nath's predatory behaviour or written about instances where they themselves have been assaulted by him. On 14 November 2018, the CINTAA expelled Alok Nath from their organization after he failed to appear at a body meeting on 12 November to discuss his rape accusations against Vinta Nanda, and instead sent a response to the 'show-cause' notice instead. CINTAA secretary general Sushant Singh noted that the group's EC (Executive Committee) "unanimously voted him out." On 21 October 2018, singer/composer/TV show judge Anu Malik was asked to step down from judging the reality TV show Indian Idol 10 after being accused of sexual harassment from multiple women. And so on and so forth!
The situation today is devastating. With so many reputed names of the industry getting embroiled in this dirt, this scenario is pitiful from every angle. So many news are coming into view where the woman has deliberately spreaded molestation rumours for some personal or professional benefit. Although, this percentage is very small but its existence cannot be denied. If even one of the hundreds of women who have come out with their experiences are lying about being mistreated then that means these women will bargain their own self-respect to get a flick of fame, news headlines and a week of interviews which is such a sorry state of affairs and if they are not, if every single one of the reports which are coming out every day is true and the people with the most power are doing nothing but exploiting their resources to bully young women and rob their dignity, then we live in a cruelly hopeless world, indeed.
On this day, my earnest request to all of you is to allow #MeToo reach its maximum success. Let this be a platform of reminder to all those women who have ever been touched inappropriately or non-consensually that they are not alone, that the world has not come to an end, that there is a way out of the most heinous things in this world and that no matter how impossible it might seem at the start, it will get better tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or the day after that day ‘cause it might be a bad day but its not a bad life. Let it not be misused by some women to meet their petty needs or be an overnight Insta Star or worse, garner a load of sympathy and pity. Let #MeToo flourish for what it was made for so that it eradicates a share of the world’s evil and this can be a slightly better home for us.
Again a beautiful piece! Stated facts, and I loved it. People need to think that this movement is supposed to be a revolution, instead of making jokes and memes on such a sensitive topic like this!!
ReplyDeleteAww sweetie. Thank you so much for appreciating. Much valued opinions!
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