Some days ago, a friend of mine asked me to fill a questioner about “Casting Couch”. I was not familiarized with this term so I was immediately intrigued about all those questions. I just couldn’t imagine myself, as an actress, going through a situation like that.
Straight after I start to search for more information about this. Here are some testimonials I found:
“I don’t think there’s a single person in the entertainment industry that hasn’t, at some point, experienced the casting couch thing.” Myleene Klass
“It happened a lot this year actually.” Megan Fox
"I could see how someone who didn't know better might worry: My career will be ruined if I don't give this guy a b******!" Gwyneth Paltrow
I was pretty shocked with the number of people who had experienced this. On the same day, I watched ‘Bombshell’ – biographical drama film about the cases of sexual harassment inside Fox News.
All those things together really made me think about why women supporting women is so important and crucial for our future.
How important is to destroy this feeling of being alone, facing humiliation, intimidation and shame. Also, to protect other women and next generations.
We need to be BRAVE to report these situations and stay strong, TOGETHER.
This has been going on for years. So awful! Yes Mariana, it highlights that there's still work to do, and we must work to protect women within the performing arts. check out this article about Harvey Weinstein- people with power and money have been silencing women: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories
It's absolutely WHY we still need IWD and courses like this, Mariana, only we understand the boxes women get put in and sadly women still categorise other women too often. Glad that we have this course and platform to explore these issues and support each other to navigate through any situations like this xx
I had never heard of 'casting couch', thank you for writing about it! x