6. Fatima Goss Graves, the president of the National Women’s Law Center said that the verdict provided hope that we can “have a criminal justice system that reflects the reality of sexual violence.” What does Ms. Graves mean by that? What does Mr. Weinstein’s case reveal about sexual violence?
Following the verdict, The New York Times asked some of Mr. Weinstein’s accusers, legal experts and stakeholders in the #MeToo movement for their reactions. Those responses are compiled in the article “‘Finally’: Ashley Judd and Other Weinstein Accusers Respond to Verdict.” Here are excerpts:
Ashley Judd was the first actress to publicly accuse Mr. Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
The story of #MeToo, of what the movement is about, is that men no longer have tacit permission to use their power or prestige to sexually access girls’ and women’s bodies. Their power and position cannot be used in secret or in the open to exploit asymmetry of power. There will be consequences in the courtroom, in employment and in society. …
… I would love for Harvey to have a restorative justice process in which he could come emotionally to terms with his wrongs. The criminal justice system is a distant second to a more humane kind of process. This is what he has created for himself: prison, lack of remorse, lack of accountability. The man is going to prison for sex crimes.
Fatima Goss Graves is the president of the National Women’s Law Center.
What defense attorneys do is create a narrative that only one type of person could experience sexual violence, and that there is only one type of response. They discount behaviors that are actually really typical in an effort to blame victims. This moment we are in is an opportunity to disrupt the story of a typical survivor, and to disrupt the story of a typical response.
Chanel Miller wrote a memoir, “Know My Name,” about her experience as the victim in a high-profile sexual assault case.
Today we locked one man in one cell. We made progress because survivors keep speaking. Still, this was a case where many others looked away for decades. It was not just power that made him untouchable, people did. We cannot be afforded the neatness of closure. We should confront the question on our collective conscience: The next time you are aware of violence, will you be silent or speak?
Zelda Perkins is a former Miramax assistant who was the first woman to break a nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Weinstein.
Harvey going down for five years, 10 years, is not the end of this. This does not solve the problem. We can’t all just turn our eyes back to normal life and think everything is OK.
The fight absolutely doesn’t stop here. I think Harvey has become the ogre and the figurehead of this awful situation, but he is not the only one. And I think we have to remember that #MeToo was not about Harvey Weinstein. Tarana Burke did not start #MeToo because of Weinstein.
#MeToo has not been finished by him going to jail. And I hope this is the beginning of judges and juries understanding and taking the nuances of abuses of power more seriously.
If you have more time, read the entire article. Then, engage in a Big Paper discussion in response to the questions: What is your reaction to the Harvey Weinstein verdict? Do you think the verdict will change how sexual harassment and assault are viewed and prosecuted? How do you think this will shift how teenagers talk about consent, sex and harassment? What do you think the verdict means for the #MeToo movement at large?
