Paper Example on Victim-Blaming: Breaking the Silence on Sexual Harassment & Rape

Introduction

Sexual harassment refers to any sexual advances, verbal or physical conduct that is unwelcomed by the victim. Sometimes people undergo sexual harassment and rape, but they fail to report to the relevant authorities or even inform anyone. The reason why people are reluctant to disclose that they have been harassed sexually or raped is because of the fear of being shamed. When one is sexually harassed, some people think that it was because the victims were dressed inappropriately. Even if a person was dressed provocatively when the incidence happened, it is not an excuse for a person harassing her.

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Donna Karan Publicly Defend of Harvey Weinstein

Donna Karan's words suggested victims of sexual harassment or rape ask for it when they dress in a proactive manner (Alexander, & Deerwester, 2017). However, the choice of dressing cannot be used to justify harassment and rape because every woman has a right to dress in a manner that they feel comfortable. Therefore, dressing in a particular way that some people think is the appropriate way is not the appropriate approach of preventing harassment and rape. People should learn to respect women and avoid engaging in unwelcome sexual advances.

Blaming the victim rather than supporting them encourages victim shaming. When famous people such as Karan blame the victims rather than shame the offenders, the victims are discouraged from coming forward when they are harassed. They are made to feel that they could have prevented the incidence by dressing appropriately (Freydkin, 2017). Victims have easily transformed into offenders hence the reason why some sexual harassment and rape offenders escape justice. Apart from victim shaming victims also fail to report or publicly say that they have been harassed as they feel that their reputation will be ruined and their careers ruined.

Damage control is a remedy for minimizing the impact of a controversial act. When Donna Karan publicly defended Harvey Weinstein, people were offended, and some called for a boycott of her clothes (Alexander, & Deerwester, 2017). Although she apologized for the words that laid blame to women, her apologies are believed to be for the sake of her brand and not because she feels what she said was wrong. When she supported Harvey Weinstein, she was presenting her honest opinion on the relationship between dressing and sexual harassment. However, it seems that she never took the time to evaluate the effects of her opinion on her brand.

Donna Karan's Initial Support of Weinstein

Donna Karan's initial support of Weinstein was her honest opinion about the issue (DailyMail, n.d.). Although she defended Weinstein, there wouldn't be any need to boycott her clothing because she is entitled to her opinion. People should restrain from questioning her intentions for apologizing and accept her apologies since she realized that the remarks that she had initially made were demeaning to the women as they were glorifying the act of sexual harassment. Although some ladies may find amazing clothes designed by Karan, it would be difficult for them to buy them even after she apologized.

Damage control can be ineffective in minimizing the impact of someone's actions. Although public relations may consider apologizing as an approach of ensuring that customers continue using the products, the approach sometimes is futile because the victims of the controversial acts may be unwilling to forgive the offenders. Words cannot be retrieved, so the words used by Donna Karan towards women will have a negative impact on her career despite her apologies.

Megyn Kelly Morning Show

Megyn Kelly morning show on NBC News consisted of interviews and inspiring stories which challenged what the viewers already knew. Her style of journalism was unique, and her mannerisms offered to learn as well as positive change platform. Through her shows, she gave people a chance to explain themselves. When they do so, people realize that their perceptions of the interviewees were wrong. In the case of Lauren Sivan, she got a chance to explain why she did not report the incidence (Kelly, 2017). When the harasser is powerful, the victim is likely to feel intimidated.

Growth and evolution of change of the people are dependent on whether people are allowed to talk freely without being judged or the setup where the people are hostile and point fingers to others. When people are sure that they wouldn't b judged for the actions, they are likely to come forward and speak about issues that they are facing. When society shames the victims, they will not be willing to speak out because no one wants to be judged. Talking without being judged is critical because the truth is revealed and the people realize that the way they perceive an issue is different from what happened.

People go through difficult times, and talking would help. However, before deciding on whether to make it known, they consider what the public will say. One, for example, may be facing family violence and choose to remain silent. The reason for this decision is because when one speaks up in such a situation, they are perceived as inferior. To encourage people to talk about the challenges they encounter in daily life the society should refrain from pointing fingers and judging.

Emma Thompson Message

Emma Thompson message on the interview is that many women get sexually harassed from men, especially men with authority from many years ago (BBC Newsnight, 2017). According to Emma, many women have encountered harassment from their male counterparts but have chosen to remain silent because of the fear of the unknown. Emma argues that Harvey Weinstein is a sexual predator and has harassed many women for sexual favors to give them the opportunity of acting in the respective interested movies. Many men in leaders' positions have been accused of sexual harassment such as President Trump; hence, action needs to be taken to stop sexual predators from harassing women. The bullying character of Harvey Weinstein also occurred in his business engagement; therefore, anyone who met him knew him.

Emma believes that the entertainment industry has many sexual predators, and many women end up being harassed daily (BBC Newsnight, 2017). Emma new Harvey as a bully based on his action hence took precautions to ensure that they never remained in the same room with him. The key point from the interview is that there is a crisis of women harassment in the world, and women need to take action to stop the harassment from men. Some women are vulnerable; therefore, empowered women need to fight for them.

The biggest challenge to the fight against harassment is the hypocrisy among women who pretend to fight the harassment but still go on to give men sexual favors (BBC Newsnight, 2017). When they have to change their behavior if they want to win the war against bullying from men, women need to be empowered and encouraged to speak whenever they are bullied and harassed for action to be taken against the bullies. The entertainment industry needs to be reformed to ensure that women are treated fairly without harassment.

Harassment Case Against Philip Green

Many women spoke up from the "me too" movement where they spoke of the sexual harassment and bullying that they have experienced in different occasion. Many of the harassment cases occur at the workplace where men ask for sexual favors from the women to give them opportunities that they are looking for. Among the people accused to have engaged in sexual harassment include billionaire Philip Green, who was accused of having sexually assaulted his female employees (Peachey, 2018). The harassment case against Philip was so huge that the members of parliament advocated for the revocation of honor given to him by Queen Elizabeth.

Philip used his position and power to assault women working for his clothing company. Philip used to bully the women first to make them give in to the sexual harassment cases (Peachey, 2018). The women claimed that the harassment happened in the boardrooms and then threaten them to make then not reveal his actions. Some of the women were promised to be paid in order not to reveal what he had done to them. Philip was charged for sexual harassment, and many women come out to explain their sexual harassment encounters by Philip, but Philip denied the allegations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, sexual harassment and bullying against women need to be stopped. Women have a significant role to play in stopping the harassment. Any incident of harassment need to be taken seriously and action taken against the offenders. Women also need to be empowered to ensure they can deal with the challenges of harassment.

References

Alexander, B., & Deerwester, J. (2017). Megyn Kelly on sexual harassment: 'Donna Karan isn't the only one who thinks this way.' Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/10/09/donna-karan-defends-harvey-weinstein-suggesting-women-ask-trouble/748596001/

BBC Newsnight. (2017). Emma Thompson: Harvey Weinstein 'top of harassment ladder' - BBC Newsnight [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV_W6kPqR9U

DailyMail. Donna Karan defends Harvey Weinstein and blames victims. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4964380/Donna-Karan-defends-Harvey-Weinstein-blames-victims.html

Freydkin, D. (2017). Two Harvey Weinstein accusers speak out exclusively on Megyn Kelly TODAY [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.today.com/news/two-harvey-weinstein-accusers-speak-out-exclusively-megyn-kelly-today-t118033

Kelly, M. (2017). Harvey Weinstein: 'I Had A Great Time,' After Harassing Journalist Lauren Sivan | Megyn Kelly TODAY [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jryq21rNTfw

Peachey, P. (2018). UK billionaire under pressure in a sexual harassment case. Retrieved from https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/uk-billionaire-under-pressure-in-sexual-harassment-case-1.784529