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Jane Fonda: People Are Listening Now Because Weinstein Victims Are 'Famous And White'

Jane Fonda: People Are Listening Now Because Weinstein Victims Are 'Famous And White'

Activist Gloria Steinem and actress Jane Fonda appeared on MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” Wednesday night to discuss the mounting allegations of sexual harassment, assault and rape against Harvey Weinstein.

The duo appeared as spokespeople for The Women’s Media Center, a non-profit which Fonda and Steinem co-founded with poet Robin Morgan in 2005. Fonda pointed out that while the Weinstein accusations are a watershed moment for our culture when it comes to sexual harassment, it only happened because most of his accusers are famous white women (with the exception of Lupita Nyong’o).

“It feels like something has shifted,” Fonda told Hayes. “It’s too bad that it’s probably because so many of the women that were assaulted by Harvey Weinstein are famous and white and everybody knows them. This has been going on a long time to black women and other women of color and it doesn’t get out quite the same.”

Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 60 women including allegations of sexual harassment, assault and rape. The Hollywood heavyweight has since been fired from his television and movie studio The Weinstein Company and is being investigated by police in London and New York.

Steinem said that there is power in numbers, especially in instances of sexual violence.

“If you steal money, you probably get arrested and convicted, because everybody says stealing is wrong. But if you do something that is very sexist or racist, because there still is a critical mass of bias in this country, it takes more cumulative instances for it to be recognized,” she said. “So we have reached a tipping point I think.”

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.