A Dutch television show named "Raped or not" is said to debut on November 7 in the network BNNVARA, and critics are outraged by the show's concept.
The show is said to depict real-life court cases of sexual allegations. Actors will enact the incidents for a panel to judge whether the act was rape or not. The panel will consist of 14 young men and women.
The producer of the show, Bernard Van den Bosch told The Sun: "One says rape, the other sees it as an innocent sexual encounter. Our show is about that grey area."
The show comes at a time where sexual harassments allegations in the film and TV industry have been surfacing in abundance. It all started in October 2017, when The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women have accused popular producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harrassment.
Another recent and ongoing case is that of 'House of Cards' actor Kevin Spacey. Netflix has recently cut ties with the show and the actor, as the number of harassment complaints against Spacey has been increasing. Employees on the sets of the hit show have all raised a red flag against Spacey, saying he has created a "toxic" work environment.
While Hollywood is raging with such issues, similar cases run parallel in India as well. On November 31st, an Indian law student based in the US named Raya Sarkar released a crowd-sourced list naming professors from universities who are alleged to have committed sexual harassment. Although Sarkar got support from many, she also received hate and backlash, due to which her Facebook account is currently unavailable.
That also spawned another list of academics and social activists accused of sexual harassment posted on Facebook by an anonymous person who goes by the profile name Malati Kumari.