IN THE TWELVE months since the Time’s Up movement was created, it has added such vocal and prominent supporters like Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep and America Ferrera to their ranks.
These women in positions of high visibility helped elevate the movement and encouraged over $15 million of fundraising for the legal defence fund for survivors of sexual assault in the workplace.
Last week, the organisers at the heart of the Time’s Up movement released a video to mark the ‘year of change’ that’s happened since but more importantly, to reignite the message that they need more help.
The video included clips from news bulletins, interviews and footage from the many rallies held, it also highlighted some of the most influential women who took part.
Yes, some of Hollywood’s most well-known female stars were at the forefront of the movement, however, there were some that the Time’s Up anniversary video neglected to acknowledge.
A few months before the Time’s Up movement began, a handful of women blazed the way when they spoke out about the abuse they suffered at the hands of Harvey Weinstein – accusations Weinstein still denies.
In October of 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker published substantial allegations against Weinstein that he had a history of sexual misconduct that spanned over three decades.
Since then, hundreds of women have come forward with alleged instances of sexual misconduct by Weinstein, yet none of these women were mentioned in Time’s Up’s one-year anniversary video – something pointed out by journalist, Yashar Ali.
Ali questioned where survivors such as Mira Sorvino, Rosanna Arquette and Annabell Sciorra were in the video and asked if they had “just been erased?”
“There has been some concern than Time’s Up is an elitist organisation controlled by some of the people who allowed Weinstein to thrive,” Ali added.
“This tone deaf video adds to those concerns. How disappointing and shameful.”
Ali’s anger at the video was echoed by some of the brave women who he mentioned – the women who put everything on the line to speak out about the injustices they suffered.
One of those women, Annabella Sciorra, responded to Ali’s tweet saying:
Not that I expected to be included but it’s nice to know some are following the narrative.
Another woman who made allegations against Weinstein was Sarah Ann Masse, she revealed in her response to Ali’s post that she wasn’t asked to be a part of the video and suspected none of the other Weinstein accusers were either.
Rosanna Arquette kept her Twitter response pretty simple by just adding, “pretty telling”, to the comments section.
But in an interview with The Wrap, she revealed that she couldn’t even bring herself to watch the video due to the exclusion of those who spoke out against Weinstein.
A lot of big egos got in the way and shoved us to the side and did not include us in the conversations.
It’s just like, wow. Really?
Lauren Sivan, who accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct a decade ago, also told The Wrap:
As far as I can tell, [Time’s Up’s] sole purpose is to promote the idea that Hollywood is ‘doing something’ about sexual harassment by wearing pins at awards shows.
I hope I am wrong, but time will tell.
The differences between the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have always been present with people such as Rose McGowan speaking out against the Time’s Up decision to partner with the Creative Artists Agency which she said “sent so many into the monster’s lair”.
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In December, Rosanna Arquette joined Mira Sorvino and California lawmakers to share their delight at the introduction of the state’s new #MeToo bills.
The new bills which have come into effect since the beginning of January target the legal tactics that can be used to keep accusers in the workplace quiet.
“Seeing Harvey Weinstein being held criminally accountable for his deeds is, of course, encouraging but it’s not enough,” Arquette said back in December.
Weinstein is expected to go on trial for sexual assault in Manhattan in May.
