Oprah Winfrey spoke powerfully at the Golden Globes last night. Oprah’s rousing speech included a frank explanation of “Me Too,” a women’s movement about sexual abuse, assault, and harassment, but should “Me Too” be exclusively the territory of women? Can’t Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, and countless other men, abused and trafficked as boys also be included? What about all the trafficked children regardless of gender?
Women dressed in black at the Golden Globes last night to honor the “Me Too,” movement, and Oprah Winfrey spoke for over nine minutes at the Golden Globes, mostly on the universal nature of “Me Too” among women. The event was aimed, against the issue of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment, that has been exposed in Hollywood recently.
Oprah Winfrey first recounted her feelings as a child watching Sidney Poitier receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award as her mother came in from a hard day’s work cleaning houses. Sidney Poitier was the first black man to receive the Cecil B. DeMille award, and Oprah is the first black woman to receive this Golden Globes honor.
Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes speech, shown in the video below, made it clear “Me Too” was not just about Hollywood. Sexual abuse and harassment are happening everywhere. According to Oprah Winfrey, women all over the world can say “Me Too.”
“It’s not just a story affecting the entertainment industry, it is one that transcended any culture geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace. So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they like my mother had children to feed, and bills to pay and dreams to pursue.”
Oprah Winfrey makes a strong point. “Me Too” isn’t a racial issue, geographic issues and it should not be a political issue. As Oprah said at the Golden Globes last night, “Me Too,” transcends politics, and should be of concern to every decent human being on earth, and all parties should be working to address the issue.
Oprah Winfrey continued saying that “Me Too” should include the abuse of power exerted over ordinary women as well. Women who will never be famous or wealthy, as well as those who are fortunate enough to attend the Golden Globes, have experienced sexual abuse and harassment.
“They are the women whose names we will never know, they are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories, and they work in restaurants and they are academia and engineering and medicine and science. They are the part of the world of tech, and politics and business. There are athletes in the Olympics and soldiers in the Military.”
Oprah Winfrey made a strong point at the Golden Globes. “Me Too” isn’t just about famous actors and actresses. It isn’t or at least shouldn’t be perceived as a partisan political issue. Much effort has been made this year, under the current administration, in bringing down human trafficking including trafficked children, and aren’t human trafficking victims the ultimate “Me Too” victims?
Just beyond Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes talking points, the Huffington Post reported an estimated 300,000 children in the United States alone were being prostituted and thus trafficked each year. There are both males and females being victimized by child trafficking.
Oprah Winfrey did not mention it, but her Golden Globes speech was especially timely since January of 2018 is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Tremendous efforts were made to track down human traffickers and their victims worldwide in 2017 and those efforts continue. In the first 8 months of 2017, there were 6355 arrests nationwide for human trafficking compared to only 1952 in the previous year according to Reddit.
Also, beyond what Oprah Winfrey discussed about “Me Too” at the Golden Globes, but within the same vein, Dr. Sharon Cooper told Vanity Fair child sex trafficking is the result of a culture that is rapidly normalizing “sexual harm,” including sexualizing children.
“History is repeating itself, and we’re back to treating women and children as chattel. It’s a sexually toxic era of ‘pimpfantwear’ for your newborn son and thongs for your five-year-old daughter.”
Even Oprah Winfrey, as well informed as she is on the topic, might be shocked by the comments of Krishna Patel, Bridgeport Connecticut’s assistant U.S. attorney. Patel told Vanity Fair America was rapidly becoming no different from India, who sell children openly.
“I’d always dismissed the idea of human trafficking in the United States. I’m Indian, and when I went to Mumbai and saw children sold openly, I wondered, Why isn’t anything being done about it? But now I know—it’s no different here. I never would have believed it, but I’ve seen it. Human trafficking—the commercial sexual exploitation of American children and women, via the Internet, strip clubs, escort services, or street prostitution—is on its way to becoming one of the worst crimes in the U.S.”
Oprah Winfrey’s outspoken narrative at the Golden Globes opened a new window on the “Me Too” movement, saying it goes beyond the Hollywood sexual abuse scandals only beginning to break. Expressing the universal nature of “Me Too” is important. Hollywood is just a microcosm of worldwide sexual abuse, but can concerned parties leave out the demographic represented by Corey Haim and Corey Feldman?
Is this abuse just another men vs. women issue, as described by Oprah Winfrey at the Golden Globes? Is it only women who are victimized, and only powerful men who are responsible for sexual abuse? One need only conduct a Google search to discover women have also been arrested for child sex trafficking. Small boys, as well as girls, have been sold for sexual purposes.
Thus, sexual abuse as described by Oprah Winfrey and the “Me Too” movement is not strictly a gender-related issue. Women are perpetrators of abuse, as well as men when they involve themselves in trafficking. Men too can be victimized by sexual abuse. Abuse comes in many forms and cannot be completely blamed on males, nor can victims be defined as only including women.
Corey Feldman, is an alleged victim of child sexual assault, along with his late friend and co-star Corey Haim. Feldman reportedly says he and his friend were victimized by many powerful men in Hollywood. See the video below. Corey Feldman, now 46 years old, told Daily Mail, pedophilia is still the ‘number one secret’ in Hollywood.
While Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes speech was about grown women saying “Me Too,” in many cases now powerful women being sexually harassed and abused on their rise to fame, it is important to remember it is also about the children, both boys and girls, who are sexually exploited both in Hollywood and beyond to the entire world, including the U.S.
Oprah Winfrey closed with hope, saying “A New Day is on the Horizon.” That is surely the hope of every decent person in the world. The purpose of “Me Too” should not be to demonize men or undermining the careers of selected public figures, but to stop the abuse and especially pedophilia, by whatever means necessary. Reforms are needed, including law enforcement, and tougher penalties, as well as societal changes, in Hollywood, in the U.S., and throughout the world.
Oprah Winfrey was raising awareness at the Golden Globes, but the “Me Too” issue of sexual abuse requires more than a 9-minute speech to understand fully.