Mayim Bialik To Clear Air After Harvey Weinstein Op-Ed Draws Flak For Victim-Blaming

Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik received a lot of criticism from social media users over the weekend, as her op-ed on Harvey Weinstein and the sexual abuse allegations made against him was perceived as a victim-blaming piece. With the flak still coming in as Saturday drew to a close, Bialik issued a statement on Twitter explaining that her comments were taken out of context and promised to further clear the air on a Facebook Live session with the New York Times on Monday.

The controversy for Bialik started on Friday when she penned an opinion piece for the New York Times that initially condemned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for his alleged history of sexually assaulting up-and-coming actresses and other women in Hollywood. The actress, who first shot to fame as the eponymous star of the 1990s teen sitcom Blossom, admitted being uncomfortable working in an industry that “profits on the objectification of women,” but added that she had learned early on what Hollywood’s male movers and shakers supposedly want to see in young actresses.

“I quickly learned even as a preteen actress that young girls with doe eyes and pouty lips who spoke in a high register were favored for roles by the powerful men who made those decisions,” wrote Mayim Bialik.

Harvey Weinstein’s name was only used twice in the op-ed, and while he was described as someone who has been “meeting ingenues in luxury hotel rooms,” Bialik also stressed that she has “almost no personal experience” with male Hollywood executives asking her to do the same. She recalled making “conservative” choices as a teen actress and doing the same since the time she returned to acting after a 12-year hiatus from the industry.

“I still make choices every day as a 41-year-old actress that I think of as self-protecting and wise. I have decided that my sexual self is best reserved for private situations with those I am most intimate with. I dress modestly. I don’t act flirtatiously with men as a policy.”

there is really nothing feminist about mayim bialik's new york times op-ed.https://t.co/iGpqnsb1Gg

— millennium falco (@ritamitsuko) October 14, 2017

As noted by Business Insider, Mayim Bialik’s Harvey Weinstein op-ed was quickly besieged by negative feedback and accusations of victim-blaming, as social media users criticized the actress for suggesting that women can avoid sexual assault by acting and dressing conservatively. A number of Twitter users also accused Bialik of missing the point that sexual assault is oftentimes driven by a desire for power and not necessarily sexual desire.

Bialik’s critics included fellow actress Patricia Arquette, who tweeted that she also dressed “non-provocatively” as a 12-year-old, but that doing so didn’t stop men from pleasuring themselves as she walked home from school.

Reacting to the barrage of critical feedback she got for her New York Times piece, Mayim Bialik defended the Harvey Weinstein op-ed in a Twitter post early Sunday morning, saying that her words might have been taken out of context and “twisted” to suggest that her words were of the victim-blaming kind.

“I also see a bunch of people have taken my words out of the context of the Hollywood machine and twisted them to imply that God forbid, I would blame a woman for her assault based on her clothing or behavior. Anyone who knows me and my feminism knows that’s absurd and not at all what this piece as about.”

On top of the above attempt to clear the air, Bialik also confirmed that she will be conducting a Facebook Live session with the New York Times on Monday morning, inviting followers and other social media users to discuss the issues at hand in greater depth.

At the moment, Mayim Bialik’s efforts to explain her op-ed on Harvey Weinstein have not gone down well with a lot of Twitter users. One user complained that the original article was “self-congratulatory,” while others accused Bialik of not being humble and learning from her mistakes when she tried to clear the air. There were some users, however, who said that they were looking forward to the Facebook Live session, or commended Bialik for wanting to further discuss her op-ed in a public forum.

[Featured Image by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images]