Emma Thompson isn’t scared of Harvey Weinstein– she’s scared of what he represents. In an interview with the BBC, Thompson recalls having to work with him on a film and calling him out for his bullying. At the time, she didn’t know he was a predator of women, but rather, a difficult and rude person to work with. Since the flood gates of victims have come pouring out against Harvey Weinstein and his sexual misconduct, Thompson speaks up once again, but this time to Hollywood and all men.
Because while Weinstein is a predator, he’s not the only one. He’s in fact, the tip of a very large ice berg in a system that is built upon sexism and bullying. She states,
“I don’t think you can describe him as a ‘sex addict.’ He’s a predator. But what he’s as it were, the top of the ladder of is a system of harassment, and belittling, and bullying, and interference…..This has been part of our world, women’s world, since time immemorial. So what we need to start talking about is the crisis in masculinity, the crisis of extreme masculinity, which is this sort of behaviour……Do they have to be all as bad as him to make it count? Does it only count if you…have done it to loads and loads and loads of women? Or does it count if you do it to one woman once? I think the latter.”
