Harvey Weinstein, and the Lessons for Our Daughters and Sons

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/opinion/harvey-weinstein.html

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To the Editor:

Brava to the women who fought back against Harvey Weinstein’s raw intimidation and harassment, and to The Times for publishing their story. It is, after all, their narrative, and Mr. Weinstein simply the outsized lead whose long-running performance has arrived at its rightful end. The bottom line, sadly, is that sexism in the workplace is not the exception and nearly always the rule.

My hope is that such stories may mean that my teenage daughter never experiences the discomfort, as I have, of a direct manager insisting that he “needs a hug” and then wrapping his big frame around her and holding it there. Or that she never has another manager sum up her decades of service by saying that she looks so much better now than when she started. (In other words, never mind the accomplishments or the contributions — let’s talk about your appearance!)

To those who question how Ashley Judd could have made movies for Mr. Weinstein after his misconduct, remember that he stood (figuratively, and literally, in a bathrobe) between her and her desire to work, in the profession of her choice.

Please continue to share and circulate these stories. We must work to make such incidents exceptional and ultimately obsolete, so that our daughters know true empowerment in the workplace, and so our sons know to behave much better than that.

ELLEN MORRISSEYJACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS

To the Editor:

What I find distressing is how easily Harvey Weinstein’s victims were bought off for their silence. I do not make light of the risks — financial, personal and professional — of fighting the perpetrators of sexual harassment, and understand that many of these women were young and understandably scared, but if no one stands up to power, the abuse will continue.

MARY PLESHETTE WILLISNEW YORK