Time’s Up – the Golden Globes’ lasting impact

The Golden Globes are always events that are remembered and widely talked about, but the discussion usually ends after a week. The 2018 Golden Globes, however, will be remembered and talked about for years to come due the event’s long-term effect on society.  

2017 was the year where sexual assault allegations seemed to be popping up on the news every week. More and more women would speak up and bravely tell their stories.

People who were no strangers to the entertainment industry were being accused of sexual assault week by week. Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Matt Lauer are just a few of the many who were accused of sexual assault in 2017. Since this news was coming so often, the #MeToo movement picked up speed and started to gain a lot of attention. This movement was founded in 2006 by Tarana Burke and was meant to have women stand with each other in solidarity.

The 2018 Golden Globes really brought light to this movement in a couple of different ways. Most, if not all, of the guests attending the awards wore black in order to stand up to sexual assault. Along with this, there were nine actresses who brought activists as their dates to the ceremony.

Emma Stone, Emma Watson, Meryl Streep, Shailene Woodley, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie, Laura Dern, Susan Sarandon, and Amy Poehler all brought activists with them to the Golden Globes.

Michelle William’s date was specific to the theme of the night, as Williams brought Tarana Burke with her. Burke is the founder of the Me Too movement, and the 2018 Golden Globes introduced the Times Up movement, which piggy-backed off of Me Too.

Many of the actors, actresses, and guests that attended this years Golden Globes wore pins that said “times up.” The Times Up movement is a movement that was started by the actresses of Hollywood, and goes hand in hand with the Me Too movement. It is the actresses taking a stand with all the people who have been victims of sexual assault, and is a call to prevent it along with standing in solidarity with the victims.

Throughout the many speeches of the night, the Times Up movement was mentioned plenty.

One of the most impactful speeches of the night was the one given by Oprah Winfrey. At the very end of her speech, she spoke of “a new day [being] on the horizon” and said that the end of this day will be marked by “magnificent women” and “phenomenal men” who “are fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘Me Too’ again.”

Oprah captured the essence of sexual assault’s importance as an issue along with speaking about all of the hard work that needs to be done and is currently being done by women and men in order to resolve this issue. The main idea of the speeches was to spread awareness of sexual assault in general, and the fact that it can occur in Hollywood, the workplace, and anywhere else.

Although this year’s Golden Globes were a large and important step, many people seem to think the opposite.

This topic is very controversial, as many people believe that the Globes did not actually achieve anything. However, this is not the case. The most important thing that came out of the whole movement was the awareness given to the Me Too movement and to the cause that it stands for.

Due to the Golden Globes, many more people are now educated about the Me Too movement. There is also a larger awareness for sexual assault as a whole, and people are finally beginning to see the seriousness and reality of the issue.

Sexual assault is a large problem in today’s society, and is a very serious one as well. Thankfully, this problem is finally starting to get the attention that it deserves, and the 2018 Golden Globes take partial credit for this.

Due to all the black dresses, the times up pins, the activists that attended the ceremony, and the mention of the movement and sexual assault as a whole, the issue of sexual assault was finally given the importance and attention that it deserves.