Dozens of famous women have come forward to share their accounts of sexual misconduct and harassment at the hands of powerful Hollywood men since the New York Times and The New Yorker revealed damning allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Thousands more have shared their stories using the viral hashtag #MeToo. Their stories reveal an industry with a pervasive problem—but what can be done?
The Daily Show comedian Michelle Wolf has a solution: "Every time a guy gets caught sexually harassing someone, you don't just fire him. You have to replace him with a woman."
The 32-year-old shared her proposed harassment policy in front of audience members during Wednesday night's taping of The Daily Show, hosted by Trevor Noah. She dubbed it: "Pull Out Your Dick, Get Replaced by a Chick."
"It's not good enough to fire Harve because it's always a Bob. The only way you change it is if you change the power from the top," she said.
Weinstein has been stripped of a number of his titles—he's been fired from The Weinstein Company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Meanwhile, harassment accusations against another powerful Hollywood player, Roy Price, have led the one-time programing chief to step down from his position at Amazon Studios. Although COO Albert Cheng will take Price's place in the interim, the studio is hoping to find a female executive to officially replace Price, according to a Deadline report.
In Wolf's opinion, having more girl power at the top of the C-suite would be for the best, especially since men are so unaware of the struggles women face with harassment and unwanted sexual attention.
"Men don't know anything that's going on with women. You think you understand vaginas because sometimes you put your penis in one. That's like me saying I understand engineering because I once drove through a tunnel," Wolf said. "And that's just our bodies. Men have no idea about women's experiences. Black, white, pretty, ugly, human, a plant, when it comes to sexual harassment, everyday women are going through an obstacle course. It's like a Tough Mudder [race], but instead of mud it's dicks."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Michigan native, Janice Williams is a graduate of Oakland University where she studied journalism and communication. Upon relocating to New ... Read more
