Kevin Tsujihara's downfall continues

Former  Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara

This shouldn't come as a surprise. Deadline reports that Kevin Tsujihara, who resigned as chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. last week, is being kicked off (dramatic pause) the Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment. 

Tsujihara’s was forced to resign it was revealed he’d engaged in sexual misconduct with actress Charlotte Kirk and then attempted to help her find roles in Warner Bros. films. 

The Hollywood-based Commission was formed in late 2017 in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Its commissioners include the heads of the major studios, networks, talent agencies, record labels, trade associations and industry unions. It is chaired by Anita Hill, whose accusations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made sexual harassment part of America's lexicon.

The pending ouster of Tsujihara comes after actress Olivia Munn, whose mother is Chinese, lambasted the Japanese American CEO for being part of the misogynistic culture that pervades the entertainment industry.

Olivia Munn and Brett Ratner.

Munn, who has been one of the more outspoken actresses in the #MeToo movement,  accused Tsujihara of fostering a culture that did not take sexual misconduct seriously, as he had approved a deal with director/producer Brett Ratner despite him publicly lying about sleeping with her.

“Since #MeToo people often ask how the abuses were so prolific. It’s easy if the people at the top don’t care…” Munn tweeted. “In 2013, Tsujihara approved Brett Ratner’s very unorthodox $450m financing deal, just 2 yrs after he had to apologize for using homophobic slurs & lying about me.”

After Munn wrote a book about an unnamed director masturbating in front of her, which the Hollywood rumor mill speculated that it was Ratner, Ratner denied the inference and in an apparent reprisal against Munn, bragged that he allegedly had sex with Munn numerous times.

“I wrote a book where I discussed him anonymously. A year later, (Ratner) named himself and went on to lie about me. A few days after that, he was on the Howard Stern show publicly apologizing for lying, saying he was sorry. Yet, two years after that moment, he gets a $450 million licensing deal with Warner Bros,” she previously told Rogue magazine.

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Empowered AAPI women and girls launch #ImReady movement

By Brittney Le
ASAM NEWS

AAPI Women Lead co-founder Connie Wun experienced sexual harassment and fetishization on the streets and in academia, while her sister and co-founder Jenny Wun encountered similar situations in corporate America. Celine Jusuf, who’s had her own #MeToo moments, emphasizes that there’s no one right way to heal from or process an experience with sexual assault.

The three are leading what they call the #ImReady Movement. Formed by AAPI Women Lead, the rising movement hopes to raise visibility around self-identified AAPI women and girls and their experiences with #MeToo, racial discrimination, war, immigration, and more.

One of the movement’s main goals is to help end the intersections of violence within and against AAPI communities, in solidarity with other communities of color.

In light of Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Brett Kavanaugh and the many women who waited years to come forward with their #MeToo stories, Jusuf reminds us that sexual assault survivors are under no obligation to come forward.

“Nobody owes you their disclosure,” said Jusuf, the Communications Associate’s & Youth Leader of AAPI Women Lead. “Nobody has to share anything with you regardless of your relationship with them and I hope that if you’re asking to learn or even improve a relationship or support that you’re always centering the life and identity of the survivor first – because it’s not about you, and nobody owes you these experiences, or reliving them.”

“I’ve been doing this work on violence against women and girls of color for more than 20 years,” said Connie Wun, a visiting scholar in women and gender studies at San Francisco State University. “And I realized that there we could use more of our communities’ presence in these conferences, in the campaigns, in the leadership positions, in the decision-making tables when it came to this work in violence.

“Also because I had witnessed so much of different layers of violence within my home and within the communities I’ve been a part of,” added Wun. “These experiences are very rarely highlighted.”

When Jenny Wun was working in a corporation, a client once approached her casually and said that he wants to go to Vietnam to bring back a wife. “And he said it without any hesitation, as if she was supposed to be okay with that statement,” said Connie Wun, who spoke about her sister’s experiences and her own experiences with AsAmNews.

Connie Wun said that a senior scholar and chair of a job search committee once told her at a faculty dinner about how he’s gotten Thai massages, followed by an explanation of what the massage was like and describing the masseuses as “small” but “strong.”

No one else who heard the conversation intervened. “I think it’s racism and sexism that enables people to think it’s okay,” she added. “It’s getting brushed off.”

The #ImReady Conference will be coming to Berkeley, California, this Saturday and will feature speakers, panelists, interactive workshops, and healing activities.

“The #ImReady Conference is one of our ways to increase awareness around our issues, to celebrate the leadership of Asian American and Pacific Islander women and girls, and to help mobilize our communities,” said Wun.

One of the panelists will be an indigenous Filipina healer. Wun pointed out how the U.S. often refers to Asian practices as alternative medicine. “We’re reclaiming the power of our science,” she explained. “It’s not alternative; it’s part of the culture.

“We’re trying to remind ourselves that we’re not an alternative culture and we’re not here to be fetishized,” she continued. “When people remove you, your culture, from these popular practices, it’s a part of the racial fetishization; it’s appropriation.

“I’ve been both able to reclaim my power and history because I’m remembering this isn’t just about me,” explained Wun. “This is also for my sister, for our mom, who’s a survivor and also has experienced PTSD and a lot of health issues from being a Vietnamese refugee struggling to survive.”

Wun said that #MeToo “has helped destigmatize what it means to be a survivor of gender-based violence, specifically sexual harassment and sexual assault. Now more people are coming out as survivors.

“It was a normal occurrence but we didn’t have a platform to feel supported around it,” she added. It has “created a supportive space, a climate for survivors to feel somewhat supported and to believe that accountability is possible.”

“When all my #MeToo moments happened to me, I… didn’t feel traumatized,” Jusuf explained. “It was… expected, normal, scary, and I could reason with how it could have been my fault to certain extents. Sometimes, I was relieved it was me because one-fourth or one-fifth (either way disgusting) women experience [sexual assault] in college, which is grossly unethical that we set up society to over glorify it, but I was so f*cking relieved that it was me, and not another one of my girlfriends (because we all know more than 5 women).

“I think it’s extremely important to create spaces for us to acknowledge our experiences and also witness others and their experiences,” added Jusuf. “I know that this conference is going to be filled with so many womxn/girls/individuals who are the people I needed to know existed when I was younger, it’s going to be filled with all the women I wish to be and who I want to be, for all the people I wish I could’ve been for my younger self. We’re creating a space to witness and hold identity, and especially stories and identities that are under and misrepresented.”

Learn more at AAPI Women Lead’s website, including details on the conference and its speakers. You can also follow AAPI Women Lead on Instagram.

Sunday Read: USC gynocologist targeted Asian women in inappropriate examinations

WARNING: Story contains strong graphic descriptions.

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

During a press conference last spring, Daniella Mohazab described her examination by Dr. George Tyndall.

ASAM NEWS

A TOTAL OF 93 WOMEN have joined two new lawsuits against a gynecologist who worked at the University of Southern California for 30 years, reports CNN.
Dr. George Tyndall is accused of inappropriate touching, sexual abuse and harassment. Many of his victims were allegedly Asian.

“He told me that Filipinas are good in bed,” said Daniella Mohazab at a news conference. “He also said that Filipinas are devoted to their partners and they don’t sleep with many people in their lifetime. He asked intimate sexual details about me and then related my answers to my being Filipina and saying I guess that’s because you’re mixed. He had a creepy smile. He told me to undress from the bottom down and he stood there watching while I did so. And he smiled.”

Because many of the women who have come forward are Asian, the Chinese government has been critical of the university’s handling of the case, according to the South China Morning Post. USC regularly recruits in China for applicants and has a significant Chinese population on campus.

“We are aware of the lawsuits. We will be seeking a prompt and fair resolution that is respectful of our former students. We are committed to providing the women of USC with the best, most thorough and respectful health care services of any university.”

In August, Tyndall agreed to the suspension of his medical license until his case could be resolved. He has denied all allegations.

“He firmly believes that when all the facts are known, and experts in the field of gynecology and obstetrics are consulted, it will be determined (that) his examinations of students at USC were for the stated medical purpose, and consistent with the standard of care for such examinations,” Tyndall’s attorney, Leonard Levine said in a statement in July.

The two lawsuits announced Friday are one of many that have been filed in this case.

One of the plaintiffs described as Jane Doe 128 said she saw Tyndall on at least four separate occasions between 2013 until in or around 2016, according to CNN. She claims while forcing his fingers inside her, Tyndall made racist comments about her ethnicity and described characteristics of the vaginas of Asian women.

Jane Doe 128 alleges she asked a USC-employed nurse who was present during her appointments about Tyndall's behavior and whether it was normal, "the nurse dismissed Jane Doe 128's concerns, telling her that Tyndall was "just really friendly." 

Others like Jane Does 112, 113 and 127 also claim there was a USC-employed chaperone in the room who saw everything but said nothing.

In May, the Huff Post reported that former grad student Lucy Chi said in a lawsuit that Tyndall “moved his fingers in and out of her vagina” and “took off his gloves and began squeezing her breasts, fondling her in an atypical way” that was “very different than the way physicians typically use their finger pads to check for any irregularities in a woman’s breasts.
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FBI to reopen Kvanaugh probe; Hirono and Harris play key roles

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

Christine Blasey Ford was sworn in before being questioned in the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing.

UPDATED Sept. 28, 3:15 pm: To include breaking news.

Additional reporting by AsAm News

THE HYPOCRISY of the Republican Party was on full display … and now the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court could be in trouble.

The Senate’s Judiciary Committee voted early today to advance Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate. The committee voted despite riveting and credible testimony from Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the justice-to-be of sexual assault when both were in high school 36 years ago.

But here’s the surprise.

Senator Jeff Flake, R-AZ, threatened to vote Kavanaugh’s confirmation down unless the FBI begins a time-limited one week investigation into Ford’s allegation. The Republican leadership has agreed.

Shortly after the judiciary committee vote, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she supports Flake's condition. Without the two Republican senators support, any attempt to rush a vote on Kavanaugh without the probe, would likely be defeated.

 This afternoon, Donald Trump has ordered a one-week FBI investigation pushing back the vote in the full senate on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

In the middle of the Washington cultural and political brouhaha were two Asian American senators, Kamala Harris, D-CA, and Mazie Hirono, D-HI.

During the committee’s vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination, both Harris and Hirono were among those Democratic senators who walked out in protest.

“Democrats are not being heard. They’re pushing through this process. This is a failure of this body – to do what it has always said it’s about, which is be deliberative,” said Harris.

“I’m here standing with my colleagues because it’s very clear that the Republicans will break every norm, every rule, to get this person on the Supreme Court,” said Hirono. “Where he will be there with a cloud – he will weaken the court, and this has got to stop. So I walked out. I’m not going to participate in this charade anymore

For a full year, the GOP-dominated Senate refused to hold a hearing on Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, but are now willing to rush to a vote to seat Kavanaugh despite the dark cloud of sexual misconduct still hanging over his head.

By the time you read this, the Senate's Judiciary Committee will likely have approved Brett Kavanaugh to be voted on the full Senate. The committee is slated to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination Friday (Sept. 28) morning after hearing from Kavanaugh and Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the justice-to-be of sexual assault when both were in high school 36 years ago.

“The credibility is there for her. So I believe her,” Hirono told The New York Times earlier this week.

“This whole idea that the Republicans have, that women just sit around making these things up, that is not borne out by the reality,” she added, referring to the dozens of comments from Republicans questioning Blasey Ford’s story.

On Thursday, Hirono chastised sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell brought in specially to grill Blasey because the 11 Republican men on the committee didn't want it appear that they were ganging up on the woman victim. Hirono criticized the Arizona prosecutor for "asking these questions all to undermine the memory and basically the credibility of" the accuser.

"Mr. Chairman. is it your intent to cede all Republicans' time to your prosecutor rather than they themselves ceding their time to her?'" Hirono asked as she targeted committee chair Chuck Grassley.

"Yes," Grassley replied.

Hirono then said, "We all know that the prosecutor, even though this clearly is not a criminal proceeding, is asking Dr. Ford all kinds of questions about what happened before and after, but basically not during the attack," Hirono said.

In contrast to the hired prosecutor's attempts to weaken Blasey's claims, Harris used her five-minutes to sooth the "terrified" California psychology professor. "You are not on trial," Harris told Ford. "You are not on trial."

"You are sitting here before the United States Judiciary Committee because you had the courage to come forward because as you have said you believe it was your civic duty," Harris said bringing Ford on the verge of tears.

"You have passed a polygraph and submitted the results to this committee. Judge Kavanaugh has not. You have called for outside witnesses to testify and for expert witnesses to testify. Judge Kavanaugh has not. But most importantly you have called for an independent FBI investigation into the facts. Judge Kavanaugh has not and we owe you that," Harris said.

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Christine Balsey Ford, 'you are a true profile in courage at this moment in time in the history of our country." 

- Sen. Kamala Harris

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In her powerful closing statement, Harris told Ford, "You have been a true patriot in fighting for the best of who we are as a country. I believe you are doing that because you love this country, and I believe history will show that you are a true profile in courage at this moment in time in the history of our country."

In the afternoon, Kavanaugh didn't give any ground, giving an angry, tearful statement, almost shouting his statement in stark contrast to the Blasey's sincerely emotional and soft-spoken statement and responses.

Kavanaugh took the Trumpian approach to controversy by doubling down and going on the offensive, rudely interrupting the senators' questions and throwing the question back to the Democrats. 

He strongly denied the allegations of Blasey Ford and the three other women who claim to have seen Kavanaugh dead drunk and belligerent. Except for Blasey Ford, none of the other women, including a key witness, Mark Judge, to the alleged assault on Blasey Ford, were brought in by the senate committee for questioning and/or corroboration of either Blasey Ford's or Kavanaugh's statements.

He consistently avoided answering Democrat's questions if he would ask for an FBI investigation to move the incident(s) beyond the he-said, she-said situationi facing the committee members.

In the end, probably no votes of committee members changed, Blasey Ford came off sounding sincere and credible and Kavanaugh came off as emotionally unstable, petulant and a sure bet his nomination will go to the full Senate as quickly as possible before another woman might come forth with a story of Kavanaugh's earlier days ... and before the Midterm elections when the GOP might lose the majority in the House and/or the Senate.

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Padma Lakshimi: "I was raped at 16" and didn't report it

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Food critic and television host Padma Lakshi

THE SENATE CONFIRMATION hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh has turned into an extension of the #MeToo debate and demonstrates once again, the huge gulf between men and women.

Padma Lakshimi, host of Top Chef and international model, has come forward in an New York Times oped today (Sept. 26) and a series of follow-up tweets to explain why she didn't report the three sexual assaults in her life that she ddn't report.

 The model-actress said she was motivated to speak out in the wake of two women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of inappropriate sexual conduct. Kavanaugh has denied both women's accusations. She said she decided to make the incidents public as a show of support for Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who is alleging that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago when he was 17 and she was 15.

She relates in her oped that she was raped at age 16 while dating a 23-year old co-worker. But besides getting raped, she told of two other incidents in which she was sexually assaulted. The first incident was when she was just 7-years old.

"When I was 7 years old, my stepfather's relative touched me between my legs and put my hand on his erect penis," wrote Lakshmi, who also recently tweeted about the incident as part of #WhyIDidntReport. "Shortly after I told my mother and stepfather, they sent me to India for a year to live with my grandparents. The lesson was: If you speak up, you will be cast out."

Since Ford's revelation, two other women have come forward about being sexually victimized by a drunk Kavanaugh, who has strongly denied all of the assertions.

Donald Trump and other senators who support Kavanaugh couldn't fathom why someone wouldn't report those assaults to the police right away instead of keeping quiet about them for decades.

"I have nothing to gain by talking about this," Lakshmi wrote in the NYTimes. "But we all have a lot to lose if we put a time limit on telling the truth about sexual assault and if we hold on to the codes of silence that for generations have allowed men to hurt women with impunity."

Lakshimi's representative that the television personality would not make any further comment on her oped or the iincidents in her life, but she continued to post on twitter in response to her article.

Lakshimi tweets about the toll the telling of her hidden story has taken on her and her family, including her own 8-year old daughter, who she has instructed to speak out if anyone inappropriately touches her.

Professor Ford is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday (Sept. 27) along with a rebuttal from Kavanaugh. The 11 GOP members of the committee have hired a woman prosecutor to question the California psychology professor because of the optics that would present of 11 men ganging up and attacking a woman assault victim. 

Instead of a full investigation by the committee or the FBI on the allegations against the nominee, a vote on Kavanaugh will be held on Friday according to committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you or someone you know are a victim of sexual assault, you are encouraged to seek help at the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE. It is free and confidential, 24/7 or click here.

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Julie Chen leaves 'The Talk'

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Panelists on 'The Talk' just viewed the videotape of Julie Chen's statement.

ASAM NEWS

JULIE CHEN, still hurting from Les Moonves’ forced resignation as CEO of CBS following allegations of sexual harassment, announced on the show today (Sept. 18) that she is leaving The Talk.

The veteran host and newscaster did not appear on the show in person, but made the announcement following the resignation of her husband through a videotaped message which she also tweeted to her fans.

“I have been at The Talk since the day it started nine years ago … we have become a family, but right now I need to spend more time at home with my husband and our young son,” Chen said from the set of Big Brother, a show she has also co-hosted since its debut in 2000.

The decision allows Chen to avoid the awkward situation on The Talk where she would be expected to address her husband’s ouster.

Immediately following  Moonves' resignation more than a week ago, Chen announced she would be taking a few days off from the daytime program. Co-hosts Sharon Osbourne and Sara Gilbert expressed sympathy and support for Chen while she was gone, but also seem to indicate their support for the network’s decision to push Moonves out.

In her taped message, Chen also directed a message to the other women on the show.

“I know this show and the sisterhood it stands for will live on for many years – ladies, you’ve got this and I am proud to call you my friends,” Chen said. “I love you.”

The Talk features a number of outspoken woman talking about the issues of the day. Chen is largely considered the lead host of the program and arguably the show’s biggest name. She has been on The Talk since it launched in 2010. Gilbert and Osbourne have also been on the program since the beginning.

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Julie Chen missing after new her husband resigns from CBS amid sexual misconduct allegations

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Co-hosts of 'The Talk' couldn't help but talk about their missing co-host Julie Chen and her husband Les Moonves.

TELEVISION HOST  Julie Chen is taking time off from The Talk after her husband, Les Moonves, resigned from the top job at CBS following sexual harassment allegations, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Chen did not appear on the Season 9 premiere today (Aug. 10, Monday) of the popular daytime talk show.

“I am taking a few days off from The Talk to be with my family. I will be back soon and will see you Thursday night on Big Brother,” she said in a statement.

RELATED: Chen's career may be affected

Her absence was the talk of The Talk, however awkward that might have been for Chen’s co-hosts.

“I want to say that whatever times I’ve had of hardship over the past eight years, Julie has always been there for me,” said Sharon Osbourne. “She’s been a friend. She’s been someone who I admire and respect greatly. It’s very embarrassing and upsetting to have to talk about her husband, but we do. We feel it’s right,” Variety reported she said.

Fellow co-host Sara Gilbert elaborated further.

“This is an important time in our culture, and just because this hits close to home, it doesn’t change the story. All women’s stories, and these women’s stories, matter. This is very serious, and the appropriate actions need to take place. I am happy when women are heard because for a long time, they haven’t been,” she said.

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

When sexual misconduct allegations first arose about her husband, Julie Chen showed up to work on 'The Talk.'

The Hollywood Reporter reports Obsourne has exchanged messages with Moonves since the controversy broke.

That didn’t stop her from being blunt.

“Why is it that when men get power, it goes to their testicles? I do not know why, but it’s true,” she said.

Moonves on Sunday night called the allegations “untrue” and that he is “deeply saddened” to leave the company.

His buyout is a reported $100 million, according to CNBC.

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Chen stands by her husband; CBS punts on Les Moonves allegations

SCREEN CAPTURE

'The Talk' host Julie Chen briefly addressed the allegations against her husband.

JULIE CHEN, host of the CBS show The Talk, didn't say much today (July 30) about the allegations against her husband, CBS CEO Les Moonves.

At the beginning of the show, after walking out on the stage to applause, Chen, one of the promienent Asian Americans on American television, addressed the elephant in the room head-on. She said that her previous statement is her only comment on the matter.

“Some of you may be aware of what’s been going on in my life for the past few days,” she said at the opening of the show. “I issued the one and only statement I will ever make on this topic on Twitter. I will stand by that statement today, tomorrow, forever.”

RELATED: Julie Chen's statement

The audience broke out in applause and Chen said, "That's it," then continued with the rest of her show, the first episode since last Friday when a story from The New Yorker was published saying six women had come forward to accuse the CBS head of sexual misconduct.

Today was the first workday after the New Yorker story was published.

CBS told media it was “in the process of selecting outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation.” But after a regularly scheduled call with the board of directors, CBS had not taken any action against Moonves. “No other action was taken on this matter at today’s board meeting,” they said in a statement.

Moonves makes more than $69 million annually, according to the New York Times. If he was to be fired without being found guilty of these accusations, the company would owe him an exit package of $184 million.

One of the accusers, actress Illeana Douglas, alleged he violently kissed her. "You think, how long is this going to go on? I couldn't get him off me," she said.

All of the women say they believe their careers suffered because they rejected his advances.

Moonves said in a statement he regretted "immensely" having "made some women uncomfortable" in the past.

Chen issued a statement Friday defending her husband.'

CBS star Chen, who also hosts Big Brother, and Moonves have been married 14 years. He is largely credited for CBS success in the last decade.

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Julie Chen's career may be affected by allegations against her husband

Julie Chen and husband Les Moonves.

THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT allegations against CBS CEO Les Moonves might impact the future of television host Julie Chen.

After the bombshell revelations from a new New Yorker report written by Ronan Farrow, Chen released a statement Friday (July 27) defending Moonves, her husband of 14 years.

In the New Yorker article, Moonves, CBS' head honcho, was accused by six women who said he forcibly touched or kissed them in the workplace and when they rejected him, their careers were negatively affected.

“Throughout my time at CBS, we have promoted a culture of respect and opportunity for all employees, and have consistently found success elevating women to top executive positions across our company,” Moonves told the New Yorker in a statement. 

“I recognize that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances. Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely. But I always understood and respected—and abided by the principle—that ‘no’ means ‘no,’ and I have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career. This is a time when we all are appropriately focused on how we help improve our society, and we at CBS are committed to being part of the solution.”

Chen, as host for The Talk and Big Brother, is one of the most prominent Asian American TV personalities. No doubt the situation will get awkward at work. The Monday (July 30) episode of The Talk will likely be one of the most watched shows in the program's history if she shows up as co-host.
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On Friday afternoon, a new New Yorker report written by Ronan Farrow revealed allegations of sexual harassment against CBS CEO Les Moonves, spanning from the 1980s into the early 2000s. Six women say the network chairman forcibly touched or kissed them in the workplace, physically intimidated them and/or threatened their careers. After rejecting him, all allege their careers were negatively affected. Moonves issued a statement denying their claims that he had “misused” his “position,” while admitting that “there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances.” Said Moonves, “Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely. But I always understood and respected — and abided by the principle — that ‘no’ means ‘no,’ and I have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career.” Now, Julie Chen, Moonves’s wife and host of Big Brother on CBS, has tweeted a statement of support for her husband.

Weinstein's indictment vindicates Filipina model

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Ambra Gutierez suffered from depression after authorities dismissed her allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

FILIPINA/ITALIAN MODEL Ambra Gutierrez feels vindicated and relieved now that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is finally being brought to justice.

After seeing photos and TV coverage of of Weinstein walking into the NYPD’s 1st Precinct on Friday morning, Guitierrez told The New York Daily Post: “It’s like waking up from a dream and not knowing if it was true or not.”

Weinstein, 66, turned himself in to police Thursday (May 25) to face felony charges of criminal sexual misconduct and alleged rape against two women (former aspiring actress Lucia Evans and an unnamed party who is not Gutierrez). Weinstein, once one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, did not enter a plea in Manhattan Criminal Court and was freed on $1 million bail.

“All the memories are coming back,” she said. “Those three years I lost. It’s a bit of sadness and happiness at the same time. Now people believe me and I feel like those three years were worth it for anything I went through.”

RELATED: Filipina at center of allegations against Harvey Weinstein

Guitierrez, who was 22 at the time Weinstein invited her to his office, was one of the first women to bring Weinstein's abusive behavior to the attention of law enforcement. 

After meeting at a social occasion, the movie producer invited Guitierrez up to his Tribeca office where he allegedly groped her breast and tried to put his hand up her skirt.

She left distraught and went to the authorities. The NYPD persuaded her to put on a hidden microphone and meet up with Weinstein. At the meeting, he offered his apologies, essentially admitted to the sexual misconduct. As he was apologizing, he also tried to invite the model to his hotel room.

But Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. declined to prosecute Weinstein, stating there still wasn’t enough evidence.

Ambra Battaliana Guiterrez grew up in Italy.

She was allegedly silenced with a $1-million and a non-disclosure agreement from Weinstein.

“I didn’t even understand almost what I was doing with all those papers. I was really disoriented. My English was very bad,” the model told the New Yorker. She realized the gravity of the situation when she saw Weinstein’s lawyer’s hands shaking, she said.

“The moment I (signed) it, I really felt it was wrong,” she added.

She told the New Yorker that she accepted the deal after working with the NYPD to secretly record Weinstein admitting to groping her. As part of Weinstein’s payout, Gutierrez was also made to sign a statement — to be released if she ever broke the non-disclosure agreement — which stated that the behavior Weinstein to which admitted on tape never happened.

An attorney who has seen the agreement called it “the most usurious one I have seen in decades of practice,” according to New Yorker writer Ronan Farrow, who did not name the lawyer.

“I felt like I was going crazy,” Gutierrez told the New York Post. “No one believed me."

Farrow's reporting in the New Yorker on Guitierrez's experience with Weinstein opened the doors to further investigations and gave courage to other women who suffered Weinstein's advances and sexual misconduct. The New York Times published in October last year explosive allegations against Weinstein by high profile stars such as Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan and Gwyneth Paltrow. Their stories led to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements and a revolt against men abusing their power and influence against women.

After years of depression and dealing with an eating disorder, Gutierrez feels vindicated.

“We all did something, and we did not stop until this situation was done in the right way,” Gutierrez told The Post. “I’m thinking about [the] other victims right now, that they finally got justice for what they went through.”
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Sunday Read: Asian American author opens door to Silicon Valley's 'bro' culture

SCREEN CAPTURE / C-SPAN

Author Emily Chang spoke last week at the Commonwealth Club-Silicon Valley.

SILICON VALLEY's image of innovation, risk-taking and billionaire-making has a darker side of drugs, sex and misogyny that's fueled by a frat-boy culture, according to a new book by Emily Chang.

“About once a month, on a Friday or Saturday night, the Silicon Valley Technorati gather for a drug-heavy, sex-heavy party,” Chang writes in Vanity Fair. 

In her just-released book, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley, Chang says for women in tech, Silicon Valley is not a fantasyland of unicorns, virtual reality rainbows, and 3D-printed lollipops, where millions of dollars grow on trees. It’s a “Brotopia,” where men hold all the cards and make all the rules. Vastly outnumbered, women face toxic workplaces rife with discrimination and sexual harassment, where investors take meetings in hot tubs and network at sex parties.

In this powerful exposé, Chang, a Bloomberg TV journalist, reveals how Silicon Valley got so sexist despite its utopian ideals, why bro culture endures despite decades of companies claiming the moral high ground (Don’t Be Evil! Connect the World!) – and how women are finally starting to speak out and fight back.

Asian and Asian/American men and women are in the middle of it all as enablers, perpetrators and victims.

In an excerpt, Chang tells the story of one company, Cooliris, where the young Indian American CEO, gave the entire staff copies of the KamaSutra, an illustrated guide to sexual positions. The CEO would often joke, “Thank God we don’t have an HR team,” a phrase that other employees at the company took up and repeated. 

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Tracy Chou, a software engineer recalled her experience as in intern at Google. “I was hit on every other day,” Chou said. “One person, eleven years my senior, that I had to work on a project with asked me, ‘Do you want to go watch a movie in the conference room? We’ll close the doors, turn out the lights, and pull the blinds.’” He even made her a T-shirt with his name on it and left it on her desk.

Chou later wrote a essay in Medium demanding he tech firms to reveal their statistics on the gender breakdown of their employees. With her employer’s permission, Chou revealed the percentage of Pinterest’s engineers who were women (12 percent at that time), putting the pressure on other tech companies to keep the ball rolling. Like Fowler’s post, Chou’s essay became the talk of the Valley. It took some time, but most of the major tech companies ponied up. In 2014, Apple, Google, and Facebook revealed their diversity data, and, unsurprisingly, the picture was dismal. Not only were women outnumbered, but in the most critical and most senior positions they were grossly outnumbered. 

Drawing on her deep network of Silicon Valley insiders, Chang opens the boardroom doors of male-dominated venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins, the subject of Ellen Pao’s high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit, and Sequoia, where a partner once famously said they “won’t lower their standards” just to hire women. 

Chou and Pao would later join forces with other women to found Project Include, a group dedicated to advocating for gender equality in the tech industry.

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Chang opens the boardroom doors of male-dominated venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins, the subject of Ellen Pao’s high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit, and Sequoia, where a partner once famously said they “won’t lower their standards” just to hire women. 

The Atlantic article drew strong criticism when it came out. But no one denied these sex parties were happening. According to Chang, while the women involved in the debauchery are willing participants, there’s a clear power imbalance in play.

"We all know how much work bleeds into personal life in this industry. I’ve talked with female Uber engineers who were routinely invited to strip clubs and bondage clubs in the middle of the day. As I recount in the book, I went to the famous San Francisco strip club Gold Club and it was packed with tech workers eating lunch," she recounts in an interview 

"What we’re talking about is bad behavior that’s not just tolerated but that’s been normalized.

Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang was published on February 6, 2018 by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group.
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