Harvey Weinstein, 70, sits in a Los Angeles courtroom with sunken cheeks and blank eyes. The second lawsuit against the former filmmaker has been going on for a week. He is said to have sexually abused and raped women for decades. At the beginning of October, Kevin Spacey, 63, also had to answer in court on charges of sexual harassment. The actor was acquitted.
It’s been five years since the Weinstein scandal in October 2017 started the social movement MeToo, where women around the world publicly share their experiences of abuse. Also in Switzerland. Blick sees this as an opportunity and asks: What has the movement accomplished? What has changed for victims? Or is development going too far in certain areas?
Affected are less embarrassed
Melanie Nussbaumer (36) holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Basel and works as a counselor and outside confidant for people who have been sexually harassed in the workplace. “I’ve been dealing with equality issues and sexual harassment for 20 years, but no feminist movement has been as triggered worldwide as MeToo,” she says.
As countless women have made their stories public, those affected know they are not alone. This helps them take an important step: seeing themselves as victims and finding words for what happened. “Thanks to MeToo, they are less shy to talk about their experiences and ask for help,” says the expert representing SP at the Grand Council of the Basel-Stadt Canton.
It was common for victims of sex crimes to be seen as accomplices. Often the first question they would hear was: Why didn’t you say no or fight? It is now more widely known to the public that some sexually assaulted victims are unable to freeze and react. “Society is talking about sexual harassment and people are questioning their behavior. It is no longer taboo.”
wrong prisoner?
Urs Saxer, 65, lawyer and professor of constitutional and administrative law, also thinks that MeToo has accomplished a lot and contributed to raising awareness. But there is a downside to it. “Men run the risk of being wrongly biased in public,” she tells Blick. “When the media covers an allegation of sexual abuse, a moral judgment can be made.” This may adversely affect both the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator.
Because the claims continue and can be searched on google at any time. The consequences are stark: “Your friends are coming back, you’re losing social support and maybe your job.” There is also the danger that in the end there will be only losers.
risk of false claims
Since MeToo, voices have also been raised from men who fear that women can use rape allegations as a weapon against them. It’s hard to say how common false allegations of misconduct are. Some European studies estimate: four to eight percent. Nora Scheidegger (34), a researcher in the field of sexual criminal law, St. Wales told Tagblatt: “There is no reliable data on the true rate of false accusations in allegations of sexual violence, only more or less reliable estimates.”
Nussbaumer believes fabricated allegations are “very rare” because accusing a man of sexual assault does not benefit a woman.
The result: MeToo has changed society over the past five years. It’s not just for Hollywood stars and strong men. But also for normal people. This development knows many winners. And a few losers.