On Monday, actor David Schwimmer appeared in a series of films centered on sexual harassment. They were eerily spot-on, uncomfortable, and timely. (He was immediately inducted into the Woke Bae Hall Of Fame.)
Since then, the videos have made the rounds on the internet and have struck a resounding chord.
The hashtag #ThatsHarassment has now given women and men the opportunity to share painful and uncomfortable tales of sexual harassment — everywhere they've experienced it. Be it at the workplace, the doctor’s office and beyond.
“The #ThatsHarassment videos are so supremely uncomfy and so incredibly necessary, please make everyone you know watch them right now” said @msloukas.
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“Complaining you were raped because you didn't wear a veil...#ThatsHarassment” said @AntifaSyria.
“Just watched #ThatsHarassment videos. I wanted to actually throw up. Is it really that hard to treat women like actual human beings?#TooReal” said DianaYvette.
The six short films were directed by Israeli-American film director Sigal Avin. As for the inspiration behind the project? “I realized that I really wanted to see what sexual harassment was instead of hearing about it and reading about it all the time,” Avin explained to Cosmopolitan. “There was nothing on it, everything was much more violent, or unreal, but there was nothing that showed the gray area of sexual harassment.”
Each of the films depicted real-life stories and in addition to Schwimmer, Cristela Alonzo, Emmy Rossum, and Cynthia Nixon are also featured.
"I grew up with stories of sexual harassment from my mom. Every woman in my family, in my life, has been harassed, except my daughter, thank god, who's only 6," Schwimmer said in an interview with Cosmopolitan.
“...When you've been objectified your entire life and become accustomed to being a second-class citizen in many, many ways — constantly told that you aren't worth the same as men, basically, and that your body comes first, or what you look like comes first — it makes a lot more sense to me that a lot of women don't even recognize when they’re being harassed,” the People v. O.J. Simpson actor said. “Because you spend your whole life not being treated with the kind of respect that men are automatically given.”