When people began sharing their stories of sexual harassment and assault under the hashtag “#MeToo” this past October, I knew it was only a matter of time before various “woke” brands would seek to defang and co-opt the movement in corporate, sinister ways. Now that time has come, and it’s as depressing as it was inevitable.
Former actress Rose McGowan, whose harrowing stories about Harvey Weinstein did much to get the ball rolling, called attention to this on Tuesday when she criticized Time’s Up – a legal defense fund set up by 300 prominent Hollywood women to help workers across the country deal with sexual harassment – for holding a set of events at the offices of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies.
“Who do you think is behind this ‘great’ pr?” she tweeted. “Why, it’s the company of pimps that sent so many into a the Monster’s Lair themselves. CAA. #TIMESUP fakes.”
As Vanity Fair and others have documented, agencies like CAA, ICM and others failed for years to protect their clients from a man whose predatory behavior was an open secret in Hollywood. (The agencies deny any knowledge that this was going on; McGowan seems to think differently.)
While their hearts are clearly in the right place, the people running Time’s Up might want to think twice before aligning themselves so closely with companies hoping to buy their way out of any lingering, Weinstein-derived PR problems. (The sufficiency of Time’s Up chosen tactics – charity and lawsuits – are also up for debate.)
But even would-be corporate allies who have not played a role in protecting harassers can be problematic bedfellows for grassroots movements. As the Washington Post reports, a number of startups are seeking to cash in on the rising demand for a harassment-free workplace, by tackling the problem in a management-friendly way.
Businesses like Tequitable, AllVoices, and Bravely help companies, as Neil Hooper of StopIt put it, “get ahead of these issues before they become claims”. A number of these apps seek to work around people’s completely justified fear of retaliation when signing their names to reports of harassment, bias or abuse.
But while mitigating workplace harassment is a net plus (even if companies are only doing it to save money), this approach carries some downsides.
One of the most exciting things about #MeToo has been the possibility that workers might channel all this bottled-up rage into collective struggle against not just a few bad apples but the patriarchy writ large – as well as its good friends white supremacy and capitalism.
To cite just one example, writer and organizer Alex Press notes that sexual harassment was a major rallying point in her efforts to organize graduate students. Even the male students cared.
By convincing workers to deal with harassment on an individual basis, these businesses suck the wind out of our sails, removing a compelling fulcrum point from efforts to agitate for our rights in a collective, comprehensive and effective way. Why address just one issue by yourself when you could address every issue with help from tons of other people? That’s just math.
For 99% of women and gender non-binary people, sexual harassment is just one part of a whole Venn diagram of oppression that can involve race, gender, sexuality, and of course, the exploitative relationship between workers and employers upon which our very economic system is built.
Let entrepreneurs do their watered-down thing, but let’s not forget that the real solution lies within all of us – but only if we work together.
