WON’T BACK DOWN

Asia Argento: ‘It’s Open Season’ on #MeToo Accusers

One of Harvey Weinstein’s first accusers refuses to back down amid high-profile men casting doubt on sexual-misconduct claims.

One of Harvey Weinstein’s first sexual-assault accuser has some words for her critics. In an op-ed penned this week for Women in the World, director and actress Asia Argento declared that she refuses to be “silenced.” Last October, Argento helped kick off the #MeToo movement when she leveled sexual-assault allegations against Weinstein, claiming the Hollywood mega-producer raped her when she was 21 years old. After coming forward with her story, Argento said she has been repeatedly bashed as a liar and opportunist. “High-profile establishment figures... are also feeling emboldened—not to confess their cowardice as shameless spectators but to denounce the #MeToo movement,” Argento wrote. “It’s open season on survivors.” But she won’t back down. “The larger our number, the more outspoken we are, it seems, the greater the ferocity and frequency of attacks,” wrote Argento. “The most brutal and vicious response to this flowering of female political thought and action is taking place in my home country, Italy, but the poison seeps out.” Argento will speak at Thursday’s Women in the World Summit at New York’s Lincoln Center, along with Italian women’s rights advocates Laura Boldrini and Ambra Battilana Gutierrez.