On Friday, Feb. 7, The Daily, a New York Times podcast, released an interview between reporter Megan Twohey and Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer, Donna Rotunno.
For those who are not aware of the Harvey Weinstein case, he was a Hollywood producer who is facing allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.
Weinstein, a man who has a long history of sexual assault allegations, is now on trial for assaulting six women. The #MeToo movement propelled these allegations of sexual assault in order to demonstrate the importance of ending sexual assault and coming together as women to say no to these acts of sexual violence as well as to hold a powerful man accountable for decades of abuse.
Twohey from The Daily sat down with Rotunno to discuss why Rotunno decided to take up defense for Weinstein amidst a mass of testimony alleging that Weinstein has assaulted numerous women.
In her explanation, Rotunno described the devastation that the men she defends experience to their careers and social standing when they are charged for sexual assault and the subsequent scramble to pull their lives back together even if they are ultimately acquitted.
Rotunno describes this experience as an injustice to those men who are not being afforded the constitutional notion of “innocent until proven guilty.” She claims society condemns these men of crimes the courts have not yet convicted them.
The interview is tense as Twohey, who has years of experience covering sexual assault cases, begins to push back on Rotunno’s arguments regarding the treatment of all men charged with sexual assault, especially the treatment of Weinstein.
Twohey concludes the interview with a question: “Have you ever been sexually assaulted?” Rotunno responds: “No, because I have never put myself in that situation.”
Though it is a podcast, you can feel the anger boiling up in Twohey at this response. A response that has been propagated so much by people who refuse to admit that women can not be and should not be blamed for being sexually assaulted, that they are not the ones instigating the harm.
Rotunno’s view of some of her clients is disgusting. Though I understand she is a defense attorney whose job it is to ensure that the innocent receive due justice in the court of law, in doing so, she has created an internal dialogue that blames the victim– the woman.
After decades of women bringing forth charges of sexual assault and being pushed aside as lying or being too sensitive, this Weinstein case serves as a moment where some justice can actually be served. But when Weinstein’s female lawyer is spewing age-old talking points about the credibility of women, it is hard to imagine that we will ever live in a society that accepts that women are not seductive temptresses out to lure men into “sinful” acts and then claim they were victimized.
Though it seems like a daunting task to change the rhetoric behind sexual assault, I, and others, will continue to try to demonstrate that sexual assault is a violent and horrendous event that no woman asks for. As Rotunno’s clients are facing a blow to their social lives and careers, their victims are facing a lifetime of never feeling safe in their skin.
These women, and victimized men, are forced to live with the memory of having their autonomy stripped from them by an individual who had no care for the consequences or their lustful and violent actions. Women who bring forth accusations of sexual assault are brave and deserve to be believed.
Confronting an assailant, a person who can be associated with one of the worst traumas someone can live through, is no easy task and not something anyone should take lightly.
So, as the Weinstein case unfolds and the #MeToo movement continues to bring assailants into the light in order to be tried for their assaults, just consider the strength it takes one to go through this process. To go to a police station where one is forced to retell their story of a traumatic event as the police continue to question you and deliberate whether your trauma is even worth seeking justice for.
Then to sit through a court proceeding where you will get to relive the story over and over again as lawyers tell you that the event you lived through never happened. That is another traumatic experience in and of itself, so be kind to the women and men who have braved this process.
We took a small step forward in even bringing Weinstein to trial. Let us not take a step back by allowing the rhetoric of victim blaming and misogyny to influence how we see victims of sexual assault. They did not ask to be assaulted, not through the clothes they wore, the way they spoke or the actions they made.
They are victims, survivors and, now, disruptors who need to be supported and believed.
