Abuse in Hollywood and how we stop this epidemic

With a society full of normalising, defending and ignoring rape culture it comes to no surprise that many of Hollywood’s 'finest' have been accused of sexual assault. From Donald Trump to most recently Melanie Martinez hundreds of powerful men and women have been accused of abusing their power to harass and assault vulnerable people.

Most allegations have been released after many women came forward about Harvey Weinstein sparking the #MeToo movement on Twitter. So far over 50 people have been accused of sexual assault and abuse which has only happened since October. People have handled the accusations in many different ways; many will condemn the star, tell them they should be fired, support the victim and make people aware of the accusations against them. Others will argue everyone is innocent until proven guilty, say the victim is lying for attention or money and even blame them for what happened, supporting the abuser.

However, both of these responses tend to lead to the same thing; the abuser not facing any consequences. This isn't always the case, for example Kevin Spacey was fired from his TV show House of Cards and is being investigated by the police but, for many others this isn't the same response.

President Donald Trump has been accused of sexual assault by 13 people and was recorded admitting to sexually assaulting people saying:

"Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything."

Yet, just two months later he was formally elected President of the United States. Instead of facing consequences for his actions and being brought to justice he was rewarded with more power that he is more likely to abuse.

This is also the case for actor, Johnny Depp, who was divorced on the grounds of domestic abuse. Depp faced no lawful punishment for his crimes and in Hollywood continues to be a famous well cast actor with the same amount of power he had previously used to his advantage.

Fantastic Beasts director, David Yates, and writer, J.K Rowling, even defended their casting choice by arguing that Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have decided to move on. Yates even questioned if it happened saying;

“With Johnny, it seems to me there was one person who took a pop at him and claimed something. I can only tell you about the man I see every day: he’s full of decency and kindness, and that’s all I see.”

Not only justifying themselves from hiring a known abuser and sending a message that domestic abuse can be excused. But they are also criticising Heard’s story despite her having evidence to support his abuse and it being settled with a divorce and a restraining order.

As a society we have habitually excused powerful people abusing vulnerable people allowing them to carry on with their lives and receiving no punishment. The sheer fact that so many people have been accused shows that as a society we have let people get away with this subsequently allowing many to be abused. We need to continue with this movement by condemning those that have used their power to harm. We need to make people aware of these people and make sure they are brought to some justice for their crimes. We allow these people to get away with awful acts because people look up to them and they have money. This can’t be the case anymore. We need to stop this epidemic before it gets any worse and we do that by making sure everyone knows that we will not condone abuse of any kind.

#Hollywood #Abuse