EARLIER THIS WEEK, Matt Damon was criticised for some insensitive comments he made about sexual harassment in Hollywood.

Evan Agostini Evan Agostini

During an entertainment interview on ABC News, he shared his views about harassment and assault allegations coming to light in Hollywood. He said:

I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories and it’s totally necessary.

However, he then proceeded to suggest that people are far too prone to “outrage and injury.”

All of that behaviour needs to be confronted, but there is a continuum. On this end of the continuum where you have rape and child molestation or whatever, you know, that’s prison. Right? And that’s what needs to happen. OK? And then we can talk about rehabilitation and everything else.

That’s criminal behaviour and it needs to be dealt with that way. The other stuff is just kind of shameful and gross. I just think that we have to start delineating between what these behaviours are.

The actor then went on to say “none of us are perfect.” Which is true, but many people go about their daily lives for years and manage to go without groping or sexually harassing another individual. Ever. Imagine that.

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Damon, speaking of Louis CK, said “I don’t know Louis C.K. I’ve never met him. I’m a fan of his, but I don’t imagine he’s going to do those things again.” The point is, no grown adult has any excuse for behaving like that, whether or not they’re ever called out on it. And most people can happily grasp that.

Alyssa Milano, a close friend of Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan, took to Twitter to address the hairsplitting of sexual violence.

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She began a thread and calmly explained why comments like the ones made by Matt Damon are beneficial to nobody.

Dear Matt Damon, it’s the micro that makes the macro. We are in a “culture of outrage” because the magnitude of rage is, in fact, overtly outrageous. And it is righteous.

She explained that, as someone who has been a victim of every component on the sexual assault spectrum he described, she knows very well that all of these incidents hurt.

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Milano

They all hurt. And they are all connected to a patriarchy intertwined with normalized, accepted, and even welcomed misogyny. We are not outraged because someone grabbed our asses in a picture. We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal. We are outraged because we have been gaslighted. We are outraged because we were silenced for so long.

She then said “There are different stages of cancer. Some more treatable than others. But it’s still cancer.”

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Milano

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