WASHINGTON (BP) — Four of Hollywood’s leading men accused of various forms of sexual abuse are targeted in an advocacy group’s 2018 Dirty Dozen list of major contributors to sexual exploitation.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) dubbed Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen and James Franco “the poster boys of #MeToo” and, in adding them to the list, broke with NCOSE tradition of placing only corporations on the list of offenders NCOSE has named annually since 2013.
“These four men have used their power to both harass and abuse others, in addition to shaping America’s cultural acceptance of sexual exploitation through their professions in the media,” Haley Halverson, NCOSE vice president of advocacy and outreach, said in releasing the list Feb. 12. “While to some the MeToo Movement seems like it spontaneously erupted, we see it as a symptom of a deeply entrenched culture of sexual objectification and violence.”
The four men have variously admitted to and denied the charges that have been numerous and most visible since October 2017, with Allen continually denying allegations of pedophilia and Franco denying charges of sexual abuse allegedly committed on the sets of films. None of the four men has been convicted of sex crimes, although New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office filed a lawsuit Feb. 4 against the Weinstein Company, alleging numerous civil rights, human rights and business law violations. The company broke the law as Harvey Weinstein pursued sexual conquests with women in his employ and others in the movie industry, according to the lawsuit.
“The Dirty Dozen List is an activism tool that gives back power to individuals who want a voice in the culture,” NCOSE said. The list “has a track record of uniting thousands of individual actions and targeting them to create monumental changes, such as policy improvements at Google, Hilton Worldwide, Verizon, Walmart, and the Department of Defense.”
Read more of the article by Diana Chandler here.
