The ‘Weinstein effect’ has been felt in Raleigh. Good.
Harvey Weinstein is the film producer brought down by claims he sexually abused more than 80 women over a period of more than 30 years. The allegations were so spectacular that they brought about a sea changes in public attitudes. Many women have shared their own experiences of sexual assault, harassment, or rape on social media under the hashtag #MeToo.
The effect also is being felt in corporate and organizational boardrooms. Groups as disparate as the News Leaders Association and the Southeastern Archaeological Conference scheduled sessions during their 2019 conferences on averting sexual harassment in the workplace.
We have to believe the groundswell also was a factor in the N.C. General Assembly bringing state law into the 21st Century. While others have been modernizing their laws, North Carolina has been burdened by two terrible court decisions that have impacted severely the rights of sexual assault victims.
A 1979 ruling made North Carolina the only state where women can’t revoke consent once a sexual act has begun. A 2008 ruling said sexual assault laws don’t apply to people who were incapacitated because of their own action as victims, such as by taking drugs or alcohol.
Both now are history, wiped out by a comprehensive bill that also made several other changes. The bill passed both houses of the General Assembly unanimously. The difference this time, according to staff attorney Skye David of the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, was the issue had bipartisan support and both chambers viewed it as a priority.
Along with fixing the consent and incapacitation issues, the bill makes it illegal to drug someone’s drink, expands the requirement to report child abuse; extends the statute of limitations for a civil action for child sexual abuse; and tightens bans on online conduct by high-risk sex offenders that endangers children.
For Sen. Jeff Jackson, the fourth time is the charm. The Charlotte Democrat, who had tried three times previously to overturn the 1979 ruling, called the legislation “an incredible victory for women’s rights and protections for victims of sexual assault. Every year victims would call us, share their stories and ask why this loophole still existed.”
Rep. Dennis Riddell, a Republican from Snow Camp, said on the House floor that he has received “dozens and dozens” of messages, letters and calls from victims who followed the bill through the legislative process.
“To those victims, I want to say this bill is for you,” he said. “If you’re a victim of child abuse, this bill is for you. If you’re adult victim of sexual assault, this bill is for you. If you had your childhood innocence ripped out of your soul by an adult predator, this bill is for you.”
The words of some of those victims may have been crucial. Legislators “heard stories from survivors, and they were really moved by that,” David said.
The “Weinstein effect” is global in reach. The allegations have been described as a watershed moment that precipitated a national reckoning against sexual harassment. The aftermath has been compared to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in terms of change of cultural outlook and attitudes.
That may be an overstatement, but not by much. Women feel empowered as they never have felt before. They believe that this time around people finally are going to listen and put the blame for sexual transgressions where they belong, on the perpetrator and not on the victim. They believe that justice finally is within reach.
The word has reached Raleigh. Now may it reach everywhere that a predator may lurk.
— The Asheville Citizen Times