Harvey Weinstein is not alone

Good casting: He even looks like a monster

Letter to the editor in today's New York Times:

Harvey Weinstein’s public apology was both condescending and tiresomely clichéd. Mr. Weinstein has undoubtedly downplayed the sexual harassment of countless women in Hollywood over dozens of years. Unfortunately, he is not alone.

I spent nine years in Hollywood as an actress. With my freckles and my “girl next door” visage, I was always cast as the little sister or the brainy girlfriend. I naïvely believed that this would safeguard me from the proverbial “casting couch” I had heard so much about. It did not. Over those nine years, I had multiple interactions with well-known directors and producers that were thoroughly offensive, demeaning and inappropriate.

I was fortunate enough to extricate myself from these interactions. However, I never felt as if I could “blow the whistle” on these men. They were well respected, powerful and influential. I simply walked away, without giving them what they wanted and without the part.

It is disheartening to see that some 20 years later this behavior is just starting to come to light. We have investigated churches and boardrooms for this kind of behavior, and yet we are just barely starting to pull back the curtain of sexual harassment and coercion in Hollywood. It is time. It is beyond time.

Susan Mohun

San Francisco