Charlie Rose is the latest celebrity to be accused of sexual misconduct Monday. Eight women have come forward and say he acted inappropriately, groped them and made lewd phone calls. Now a total 34 men have been accused of sexual assault, starting with Harvey Weinstein. These men range from movie stars, to executives and politicians.
23 ABC news spoke with a local downtown Bakersfield sexual abuse therapist about these accusations. She said that ignorance is not an excuse.
Linda Warnick has been a sexual assault counselor in Bakersfield for 12 years.
She said, “Sexual harassment is unwanted sexual attention from a man or a woman.”
She also said, sometimes it’s tough to know if you’re acting inappropriately. That’s what former CBS host Charlie Rose said in a statement Tuesday after eight women said he harassed them.
Rose stated“I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.”
To protect yourself from a similar situation, Warnick said, “In order to avoid any possibility of a person might ask, would this be appropriate? May I? Would you like this? And listen to the answer.”
Others admit they’ve used their power to make unwanted sexual advances.
Comedian Louis C.K. said in a statement about accusations against him: “The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly. I have been remorseful of my actions.”
And actress Annabella Sciorra said this in a statement about being harassed by Harvey Weinstein, “It scared me, because I knew what it meant to be threatened by Harvey. I was in fear of him finding me.”
Warnick hopes by all these people coming forward that it will change how we address sexual harassment towards females and males.
“I hope they will be able to look at what is happening and say, that was silly of her to do. I don’t need to deal with that. I don’t need to miss treat my own self in that way. I don’t need to be dishonored in that way,” said Warnick.
Warnick thinks this is only the beginning. She thinks we could start seeing more high school cases involving teachers.
