'Young & naive': Rebel Wilson reveals she faced sexual harassment

‘I was naive’: Rebel Wilson reveals she faced sexual harassment in Hollywood

Over the weekend Australian comedian Rebel Wilson added her voice to the choir of actors in Hollywood who have been sexually harassed by directors, actors and producers, more powerful than she was.

Like so many victims before her, Wilson says she was naïve. She went to a hotel room thinking the purpose would be to discuss work.

After detailing these experiences, Rebel says she will no longer be polite about this type of behaviour.

It is the response that needs to be universal – from men and women alike. When anything remotely akin to sexual harassment or assault arises, collectively we need to eschew politeness for boldness.

Of course, that is easier said than done.

Two and a half years ago I wrote about my experience as a 22 year old vacation clerk in a law firm and being propositioned by a partner.

It is almost quaint to consider the moment sexual harassment in the workplace was having in the sun at that time. It was a ripple compared to the tsunami that Harvey Weinstein has unleashed but it was shocking nonetheless.

A Sydney vascular surgeon Dr Gabrielle McMullin had made headlines for suggesting that female medical trainees would be better off acquiescing to the unwanted advances of senior members of staff, rather than reporting them.

“What I tell my trainees is that, if you are approached for sex, probably the safest thing to do in terms of your career is to comply with the request,” Dr McMullin told the ABC.

She said that giving in to sexual harassment was ‘easier’ than complaining because of the rampant sexism in the profession. Taking on a senior staff member was unlikely to end well for the victim. McMullin’s comments revealed the toxic power play that underpins so much sexual harassment.

It is the same dynamic that allowed Harvey Weinstein to assault women with abandon for decades. The same dynamic that let Kevin Spacey assault younger men. They were powerful, their victims were not.

When I consider the response Dr McMullin provoked back in 2015 it is clear that the tides have shifted.

At the time there was utter incredulity that a female surgeon would make such remarks. There was disbelief and suspicion that the situation she described was not accurate: that sexual harassment was the rare predilection of a few bad eggs.  That she was exaggerating.

It was because of that sentiment that I felt compelled to explain my own experience of sexual harassment. I wanted to make it known that powerful men exploiting younger members of staff was not hyperbole. It is an uncomfortable reality many young women face: it exists in workplaces everywhere.

Around the same time Angela Priestley wrote about abandoning her plans for a career in radio after her experience at a community radio station, where the man who promoted her, a board member no less, began asking for kisses. Following her to her car. Asking her out to dinner. When the harassment became indecent assault, she resigned and changed her career path.

At the same time Elizabeth Broderick wrote about her experience being harassed as a young lawyer. Despite having been the federal sex discrimination commissioner for eight years it was the first time she publicly spoke about that experience.

As universal as harassment is, almost as universal is victims saying nothing about it because pursuing a perpetrator isn’t easy. Taking them on isn’t without consequence.

If victims can now speak out with a little more impunity that is a very recent development.

Last week the ABS released figures from the 2016 Personal Safety Survey that illustrate sexual harassment is still rife, particularly among women aged between 18 and 24.

“The survey also found that more than one in two women (53 per cent or 5 million) and one in four men (25 per cent or 2.2 million) responded they had experienced some form of sexual harassment during their lifetime,” the Program Manager for Household Surveys Michelle Marquardt said. “In 2016 alone, one in six women (17 per cent or 1.6 million) and one in 11 men (9 per cent or 836,700) experienced sexual harassment.”

“Young women aged 18 to 24 years were the most likely to experience sexual harassment, with around two in five (38 per cent or 421,400) reporting being sexually harassed in the past 12 months.”

How many of those victims would be inclined to consider themselves young and naive? I would posit most.

Because in all likelihood that naivety is actually the reason they were harassed. Perpetrators of assault and harassment prey on the ‘naivety’ of victims – men and women who trust their fellow citizens to refrain from harassment and assault. If it weren’t for their predatory advances that ‘naivety’ – or trust – could stay in tact.

Let us remember that the trouble isn’t being naive: the trouble is being abused.

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