As the movement against sexual harassment gains momentum, a 95-minute documentary about activist attorney Gloria Allred, a legal spearhead in the struggle for women’s rights, has been released. Seeing Allred chronicles her rise from humble origins in Philadelphia to her lead role as an L.A.-based lawyer in the limelight, fearlessly championing the underdog in high profile cases and scandals involving O.J. Simpson, Scott Peterson, 2012 GOP presidential contender Herman Cain, transgender Miss Universe contestant Jenna Talackova, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Cosby, Donald Trump, and so on.
The film, co-directed by Roberta Grossman and Sophie Sartain and produced by Marta Kauffman, is sympathetic to Allred but no hagiography. Seeing Allred candidly documents its subject’s two marriages that ended disastrously, her personal encounters with rape and abortion, scorn heaped upon her by detractors and even notes her attorney daughter Lisa Bloom’s defense of alleged sexual predator Harvey Weinstein. It also presents some of her prominent advocates, including Gloria Steinem, Dolores Huerta, and Hillary Clinton.
Three years in the making, the biopic is conventionally told. Along with the talking heads, there’s archival footage of Allred’s media appearances, from Dinah Shore’s and Phil Donahue’s talk shows to debating Zsa Zsa Gabor on Merv Griffin’s TV program. This film is surprisingly entertaining with a glorious musical grand finale. As America undergoes the paroxysms of shifting paradigms of sexual politics and power, a portrait emerges of 76-year-old Gloria Allred as a tirelessly tenacious street fighter for equality and justice in the courthouse — and the court of public opinion.
Q: You’re in the tradition of cause-oriented courtroom gladiators, like Clarence Darrow, William Kunstler, and Leonard Weinglass. What role do you see attorneys playing on the legal front for movements for social change?
Gloria Allred: Well, there are many ways to do it. One is to seek new interpretations of the law that exists. Another is to seek the passage of new laws that will provide new avenues of access to justice for those who would otherwise be denied justice. Running for office and being elected is also important.
Q: Have you ever thought of running for office?
Allred: I have thought about it. I’ve been asked to run and I have declined the invitations to run for office. Because I love what I do, I love seeking justice and seeking vindication of rights for my clients in courts of law. That’s what I do as a private attorney in my law firm and also as an advocate publicly for change. That’s what I love to do and all I want to do, but I’m blessed to do it.
Q: When it comes to sexual harassment, some people say there’s confusion in American society now as to where the line is between consent and coercion. Do you believe that and what are we to make of this confusion?
Allred: I think those are two different questions but let’s take them apart. As for consent, the person who wishes to engage in sexual acts with another should have the burden of making sure that the person with whom they want to be intimate is consenting. Now, that means they can ask, “Is this okay with you? Are you agreeable to this?” If they’re in doubt, they shouldn’t engage in it. It really is as simple as that.
Now, coercion is very different. If a person is under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both, then they don’t have their full mental capacity to be able to consent. Obviously, if there’s a knife or a gun or a threat or physical harm being imposed, that’s coercion. So as to the areas that may seem to be gray or in-between, it’s better to ask than to later find that the person actually did not consent. When in doubt, don’t involve yourself in the sexual activity.
Q: Where do you see #MeToo, Time’s Up and Rose’s Army campaigns going next?
Allred: I always say it’s like a wave that’s been coming onto the beach for many years, but now it’s become a tsunami. I think we’re talking about the year of empowerment of women.
And I believe it’s going to continue for a while — there’s no end in sight for this. Because once women are empowered and abandon the fear of speaking out and refuse to be silenced and recognize they have options, there’s no going back. There’s only moving forward and there’s a power shift taking place. We’re seeing many men who have lost their careers or in some way have been shamed and blamed. They’re now on the defense, those who have been on the offense. And those who have been on the defensive, the victims, are now on the offensive.
Q: What would you say about the idea that in some instances we’re seeing people found guilty by accusation — not by a court of law and a jury of their peers?
Allred: There is no statute of limitations on free speech. Everybody can say what they want to say, as long as they recognize the benefits and risks. Even if they don’t, they’re entitled to say it. And there are no longer any gatekeepers — they can say it on the Internet if they wish. Often the victims don’t have due process because the law doesn’t allow them after a certain period of time to pursue any legal remedy. This is all they have.
As for the due process of the accused, maybe they should work to change the law so there could be more access to the courts for the victims so they won’t feel they have to exercise their only legal option, which is to go on the Internet and start talking about their allegations.
Q: Seeing Allred is not 100 percent favorable to you — a number of criticisms are forthrightly aired. How do you respond to being called things like “an ambulance chaser”?
Allred: First of all, “ambulance chaser” — there are no facts to support that and it’s defamatory. Secondly, I have more people contacting me than I can possibly help, but I try to help as many people as possible. But name-calling to me is ineffective and if people don’t know that after 42 years, I guess they haven’t been following what’s been happening. If people are calling me names, it must mean they don’t have a good argument against what I’m saying. If they did have a good argument they would give it.
Q: What are your main accomplishments as an attorney?
Allred: Helping to empower my clients and transform them from being victims when they come in to being survivors and fighters for change. And helping them to understand they have more strength and courage to win justice than they ever realized. I’ve always felt the cross of the wrong should be borne by the wrongdoer, not by the victim. That’s been empowering for the victims, many of whom have been able to live differently because of the results we’ve won for them.
Q: What’s next for the women’s movement?
Allred: We’re moving forward on many fronts. We’re never going to be silenced again. We have a long, long way to go but we’re on the path on this journey to justice. And we can’t be stopped because there’s too much at stake and commitment to change, which is great… Resist! Persist! Elect!
Ed Rampell is a film historian and critic based in Los Angeles. Rampell is the author of Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States and he co-authored The Hawaii Movie and Television Book, whose third edition drops in April 2018. A version of this first appeared at progressive.org.
From The Progressive Populist, May 1, 2018
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