Looking past the glitz and glamour, the grandiose studios and the big budget productions, something genuinely wrong – even unethical – has occurred in Hollywood’s underbelly.

As of November 2017, there has been an uptick in reports of sexual assault and misconduct in Hollywood. Big name celebrities such as Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Ben Affleck, Louis C.K., and Charlie Sheen, have been brought to the spotlight, as their cases of sexual assault and misconduct take center-stage. These accusations have spurred immense discussion on the best means to fix a broken culture in the entertainment industry.

Never before have sexual assault accusations been so publicly broadcasted and widely condemned, as multiple victims have come out to identify their abusers. This wave of accusations comes with an equally persistent – yet morally insensitive – wave of sexual assault deniers who raised doubts on social media regarding the validity of the cases. However, accusations against Hollywood’s big name actors should be of no surprise, as sexual assault and misconduct have been ingrained in the entertainment industry since its inception.

Though these issues are, of course, bad enough on their own, they feed into the larger problem of abuse of power from higher authorities and celebrities in Hollywood. Furthermore, sexual assault cases question the validity of judging individuals in the court of law, or the court of public opinion.

Despite its name, sexual assault is about power, not sex. The vast majority of sexual assault cases have problems rooted in asymmetrical power dynamics, where the perpetrator occupies a more powerful or dominant position in relation to the victim. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in Hollywood, where casters, directors, and people in power have ultimate control over the paychecks of celebrities.

In this rare case, the court of public opinion has done much to help shed light on these sexual assault cases. The public backlash has ensured that many of these individuals, fortunately, will not be having any more success in the entertainment industry anymore. Public opinion proves to be more beneficial than the he-said-she-said bouts of the Court of Law.

The public accusations of sexual assault perpetrators in the Hollywood elite are steps that help create a more just and morally conscious society.