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Actress Rose McGowan, who was one of the first women to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, says raping someone is just like robbing them.
There is a growing list of people coming out in the open to talk about sexual advances by big names like Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, James Toback, Ben Affleck, Brett Ratner and Dustin Hoffman.
At the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here on Friday, the actress also said the problem is not limited to Hollywood.
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“Donald Trump,” said McGowan when asked whether all the sexual assault cases are a wake up call for women to speak out against harassment and abuse.
“Trump (topic) is the big elephant in the room and in fact in the world’s room. In regards to waking up to see the truth, the only positive that I can see is that black and white is becoming so obvious. There’s no way to deny it… this is an unstoppable force,” she added.
McGowan had also started the #MeToo hash tag to raise awareness about sexual harassment. It soon became a movement with people from all quarters coming forward to share their experience of sexual assault.
“We have to look at the ugliness, the gangrene. The only way to do it is to look at it and get better…It breaks my heart that we have to teach girls walking to school to be safe, instead of teaching boys not to rape. There’s no ownership,” said the actress, adding that it “isn’t just a Hollywood problem, It’s an upper management problem… it’s with anyone who has power”.
Talking about her own experience, the “Charmer” star said: “Rape is theft. My life was stolen. It is a crime, and I am not the only one.”
She also feels that “stripping off the accused from power” or firing them won’t solve the problem.
“I believe the floodgates have opened,” she said, and hoped for things to change soon.
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