Jet-lagged in Paris on Friday night, I finally gave up trying to sleep and looked at my phone, only to find that it had blown up with messages from the media asking for my response to the news that Harvey Weinstein was going to be arrested at 9 am in New York. Democracy Now! invited me to come back onto their program - an invitation I regretfully declined since I was in Europe and it was 3:30 am. However, a few messages later, and the ever - resourceful producers had not only booked a studio for the interview but hair and makeup as well! (Which was fortunate, since I looked like I had only had 3 hours sleep in 24 hours - I had - and planning to stay with my mother in the countryside, had no cosmetics of my own. It's bad enough being a victim, but no way was I going to be paraded out looking like a victim!)
Mie Kohiyama is a French journalist who is spearheading reform in France, using her platform in the French press to campaign on issues such as the age of consent (children under 15 have consent under French law, which is a defence used by pedophiles), and the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, which is currently set at reaching 38 years of age. We have been corresponding since connecting via Twitter and she quickly lined up TV and press interviews for me on what became a very exciting day in Paris.
I emailed Mie with my initial reaction to the arrest. She asked my permission to send it to the Huffington Post in France. Here is the original English version:
We are all feeling elated but a little nervous. This arrest gives us hope that something will finally happen, but an arrest is not a conviction.
All of the women who have accused HW experienced an abuse of his power, wealth and influence, so I would like to see those things taken away. I support the women who were raped and who want to see him go to jail and pay the penalty our society demands of every rapist.
However, I believe what victims of this kind want more than anything else is acknowledgment of the harm done to them. Otherwise, it is hard to heal. This kind of abuse is so personal - it is between two people, not like business fraud or something more impersonal. If there is no acknowledgment the abuser is saying, “You meant nothing to me when I assaulted you, and you mean nothing to me now because I will not validate your pain and suffering by admitting to what I did, nor give you the satisfaction of my remorse.”
It’s hard to heal when the abuser maintains there is nothing to heal from.
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