After last weekend saw Harvey Weinstein charged with rape and sexual assault after his arrest in New York, Ashley Judd has opened up to Time magazine about what implications this has for the #MeToo movement.
Earlier this month, it emerged that Judd is suing Weinstein for allegedly ruining her career. Last October, Judd gave her first interview since the many allegations against Weinstein, including her own, broke.
Judd told Time that when she heard that Weinstein had surrendered himself to the NYC police, she "didn’t have a reaction" as she felt that "a sexual predator being legally accountable for criminal behavior is and should be normal, routine and not particularly newsworthy."
She emphasised how this was a "watershed event" as "a powerful man who thrived and flourished in a culture of impunity was arrested and charged."
At the same time, Judd spoke of her frustration at the news that Weinstein plead not guilty and denies having had any non-consensual sex with his accusers. Judd said that the Hollywood mogul will not be a leading figure who "walks out of shame onto a new path of humility, introspection, accountability and amends, thereby leading our men and country in the necessary and inexorable of trajectory of restorative justice."
She concluded that the #MeToo movement and society needs "someone who can navigate the duality of having aggressed and address their abuse of power with culpability and integrity." She emphasised that restorative justice is a two-way street whereby the survivor-victims needs to forgive the reformed while the reformed needs to "have been genuinely transformed, shedding layers of toxic masculinity, exiting the denial/apology tour and standing in a new and collective space where both the person is and the narrative are made whole and unified."
You can read the piece in full in TIME.
