‘She told you so’….Muna Khan
IS there anything more to say about Harvey Weinstein, the legendary film producer whose downfall came at the hands of the industry that once celebrated him? Yes, as I learned while watching the movie She Said, based on the book by the two New York Times journalists Jodie Kantor and Meghan Twohey whose story exposed Weinsteins sexual misconduct. The movie serves a good lesson on the nitty-gritty process of investigative journalism and why people must support such journalism.
While the movie did not sensationalise any event, and chose not to show sexual violence, I was more interested in the role and portrayal of journalism. Irrespective of the country and language in which it is practised, the news-gathering process is the same: getting sources on the record, authenticating their claims, ensuring all sides are covered and fact-checking until the editor (and sometimes lawyer) is satisfied to publish. Sadly, there is a great deal of anti-journalism sentiment today, as evidenced by the global decline in trust in news media, so to watch the painstaking attention paid to verifying every single detail over the course of reporting shows the value of journalism. The same is true about sources, who in this case were initially reluctant to speak to the reporters but over time learned to trust them with their stories, their vulnerability, their futures. The reporters and editors did not let the survivors down.
The movie also shows how writing about peoples trauma impacts journalists themselves. The reporters work tirelessly through the night and its good to see their husbands taking on the role of caregivers without being portrayed as heroes. Pakistani TV drama writers could take a cue from the portrayal of normalising men doing housework and childcare. And of women working and supporting each other during, in this case, their reporting. Too often Hollywood, Bollywood, Khalil-ur-Rehman, etc like to portray women competing or working against one another, and this senseless depiction feeds into all kinds of misogynistic ideas. Its an endless cycle which needs to stop.
Can Me Too go beyond hashtag solidarity?
The title of the book/movie stems from the he said/she said phrase when describing conflicting reports of a situation between a man and woman. Often in cases of sexual violence, the onus is on the woman to prove she wasnt asking for it. She Said reminds audiences to listen to women even if it is two decades later because the system did not allow her to speak up then.
She Said ends with the publication of their story in 2016 but we know that was not the end for Weinstein or the Me Too movement that sprang. We know he was tried and sentenced to jail but we also know there are countless men who have evaded punishment for sex crimes. We know how much change is required to enact solutions to harassment across industries to disable the barriers that prevent women from filing complaints for example. She Said tells audiences how Weinstein and Co used non-disclosure agreements and settlements to silence women. We see how womens careers were cut short because they dared to speak up for others. It is tactics like these that prevent women from speaking up.
Can women hope for an HR department that cares as much about their well-being as they do about their seths? On a global level can we expect more from the Me Too movement beyond hashtag solidarity campaigns that focus on ousting a few powerful men? When can we see collective organised movements against oppressive systems that enable and protect men, institutions?
Men like Weinstein and Bill Cosby may have faced their reckoning but the same cannot be said for Hollywood or any other industry which has kicked out many of its bad boys without implementing changes to systems that allow for accountability.
This may be a bit of a stretch but if were to look at what happened at Karachi Eat a week ago, where some single men reportedly gate-crashed the family-only event and harassed women, we can see that exclusion policies dont work. Time and again, erring men face consequences for actions but little attempt is made to address the structural imbalance that leads to such situations. Segregation will not end harassment just like locking women up will not end sexual violence. Multiple stakeholders need to be taken on board to understand why harassment takes place, what works and doesnt, before coming up with ideas to address them.
The Me Too movement opened a door to important, albeit painful, discussions about harassment and power. Hopefully, it will lead to a reckoning which results in systematic change and a sense of closure for all, not just for a privileged few.
The writer is co-producer and co-host of On/Off the Record, a podcast on journalism in Pakistan.
Twitter: @LedeingLady
Courtesy Dawn, January 16th, 2023