Harvey Weinstein May Have Tried to Use Rose McGowan's Sexual History Against Her
Another day, another appalling revelation in the Harvey Weinstein assault and harassment story. The Daily Beast is reporting that, according to multiple sources, during Ronan Farrow’s investigation into allegations against Weinstein, attorney Lisa Bloom allegedly told the reporter, “I don’t know if you’ve talked to Rose McGowan, but we have files on her and her sexual history.” (Bloom told The Daily Beast that she has no comment on anything related to her former client and is not authorized to answer any questions about the disgraced movie mogul.) Wow.
But sadly, as awful as this sounds, it’s not all that surprising. McGowan has been relentless in speaking her truth about Weinstein for years, even when nobody was listening. So it’s not surprising that his team might have put together information they hoped would discredit her and devalue her story.
This is just another example of the hostile environment that often awaits women when they report instances of sexual assault and harassment and why so many of them choose not to. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 63 percent of rapes are not reported to police. And as the “Me Too” campaign showed so clearly, the secret of harassment is one that so many women carry with them every day. Sure, creating an entire opposition file the likes of which is usually seen in politics is perhaps an extreme example, but the underlying message is all too familiar: “It’s her fault.” Attempting to undermine victims based on their sexual history, their clothing, or their blood alcohol levels is well-tread territory. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak up each and every time we see it happening to yet another woman, famous or not.
We must keep using our voices until the culture shifts.