McGowan vs Argento

They reportedly got matching tattoos.

You know what they remind me of? They remind of other celebrities who've made fools of themselves becoming instant spokesmen. Roseanne Barr "recovered" "memories" of sex abuse and next thing you know she was testifying before Congress, accusing her family of horrible crimes that never happened. She now says was the biggest mistake of her life. Christopher Reeve became paralyzed, then testified before Congress calling for them to look for a cure. Disabled people were angered because they needed immediate government assistance to live their lives, something the millionaire Reeve didn't realize. A cure for paralysis that was decades away (he testified more than 20 years ago) wasn't their first priority. Angus T Jones, perhaps looking at what became of Charlie Sheen, found religion but unwisely let them make him their spokesman about a week after his conversion.

Rose McGowan was already in some sort of petty feud with Alyssa Milano and then attacked her for supporting the #MeToo movement. The two were co-stars playing witches on a TV show. "I don't like her. 'Cause I think she is a lie," McGowan told an interviewer. Can a person even be a lie?

Now that Argento has been accused of molesting a high school kid, Slate reports that "...Argento announced she was starting 'phase two of the #MeToo movement,' in which victims who have not 'led a blemish-less life' would be encouraged to tell their stories without fear of being discredited by their past misdeeds. It takes an enormous amount of self-regard to declare yourself the leader and inventor of a new phase of a social movement. It takes an even greater amount of disregard for other survivors of sexual violence to link that new phase to your own alleged history of abuse."

The article concludes:

...The A-list celebrities who came out against Weinstein kickstarted the #MeToo movement. In the long run, though, the health of the movement depends on the willingness of stars like McGowan and Argento to amplify the work and stories of women who don’t have the security of fame and riches—instead of using the momentum from that work and those stories to create career opportunities for themselves.

This week, McDonald’s workers in six cities went on strike to protest the company’s failure to take action on complaints of workplace sexual harassment. Organizers say it’s the first strike in more than a century to focus on this particular issue, and it’s one of the clearest and most convincing signs that the potential consequences of #MeToo could reach industries far removed from Hollywood. It was also the kind of action that could have benefited from high-profile publicity and pressure from, say, a celebrity who claims to command an entire #RoseArmy against sexual harassment. Instead, the entertainment press has stayed focused on the Argento-McGowan fight, which is veering further from the core issues of #MeToo every day.