Harvey Weinstein will be spending the next 23 years in a prison cell after a judge ruled that the defamed Hollywood producer would answer to his eternal wrongs. #MeToo rang through the hearts of women everywhere when the hashtag originally curated by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke sprang into action in October 2017 when Alyssa Milano came forward with her story against Harvey Weinstein.
Sexual crime survivors receive life sentences
As the allegations unfolded, Weinstein’s massive film empire crumbled before him. On February 24, Weinstein was convicted of a Criminal Sexual Act in the first degree and third-degree rape.
Although the high-profile status of the victims garnered a lot of attention, there are a lot of sexual assault and rape survivors that do not receive this type of retribution in the form of conviction of their assaulters.
Weinstein’s attorney, Donna Rotunno expressed her disgust at the sentencing. “Of course it’s too harsh. It’s ridiculous,” she said. “That number was obnoxious. There are murderers who will get out of court faster than Harvey Weinstein will. That number spoke to the pressures of movements in the public, that number did not speak to the evidence that came out in trial. That number did not speak to the testimony that we heard. That number did not speak to the evidence, nor did it speak to justice.”
However, the survivors have a lifelong sentence of having to constantly relive what they went through and what was taken from them from an individual who had a god, or should I say devil complex in the entertainment industry.
Nathaniel Woods received the harshest sentence
A harsh execution was the government-initiated murder of Nathaniel Woods who died by lethal injection in Alabama even though prosecutors agreed that he never actually murdered anyone. This was a harsh sentence that he can never come back from.
Time’s up for sexual predators like Harvey Weinstein
These women who were affected by the reign of terror enacted by Harvey Weinstein will hopefully begin to gain a sense of peace knowing he has been convicted. In a statement released by Tina Tchen, president and CEO of the Time’s Up Foundation, said, “First and foremost, we are grateful for the courage and strength of Mimi Haleyi, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff, and Lauren Young who bravely testified in court, and we remain in solidarity with over 100 survivors who suffered abuse, harassment, and rape at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. The trauma of sexual assault and harassment is lifelong—we can only hope that today’s sentence brings all the survivors of Harvey Weinstein some measure of peace.”
The statement also read: “We also hope that these women take pride in knowing the impact they had on our culture at large. Whether by inspiring more survivors to come forward and seek help, changing how the justice system responds to sexual violence, or leading corporate boards to hold more CEOs accountable for toxic workplace culture, the social change catalyzed by these survivors has been nothing transformational.”
A lifetime of PTSD outweighs 23 years
Twenty-three years is nothing compared to a lifetime of PTSD, self-doubt, power struggles, and emotional destruction that countless women have to endure throughout a lifetime. I’m sure the man who lost his life for only being involved in a crime would have much preferred 23 years than an irreversible injection given by the state of Alabama.
Hopefully, Weinstein will spend his time in confinement thinking about how he stripped countless women of their bodies and dignity as he is locked in a cell.
