美国国家公共电台 NPR In A New Netflix Documentary, Gloria Allred Looks At Her Career And What's Next

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

If you follow news stories about famous men behaving horribly then you've surely seen Gloria Allred. Long before the Me Too movement caught fire, Gloria Allred was talking about these issues, filing lawsuits² and holding press conferences to allow her clients to share their stories about alleged³ mistreatment by the likes of Bill Cosby, Tiger Woods and, yes, Donald Trump⁴. Her take-no-prisoners attitude combined with her motherly approach toward her clients has made Allred a hero to many and something else entirely⁵ to others. Because of her constant presence in the news, you might be tempted⁶ to think you know her story, but a new documentary out on Netflix this week suggests we actually don't, so it tells Allred's story in her own words.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "SEEING ALLRED")

GLORIA ALLRED: I'm so proud of all of the women who have had the courage to speak out. Rich, famous, powerful men have to understand there are rules. There are boundaries. They must respect those boundaries. This has got to end, and it needs to end right now.

MARTIN: The film is called "Seeing Allred," and we reached the woman herself at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where the documentary had its premiere. Allred told me that she was initially⁷ hesitant to be the subject of the film, but the filmmakers convinced her that audiences might find inspiration from the stories of her clients as well as her own experience as a survivor⁸ of sexual assault.

ALLRED: Ultimately, I did talk about why I do what I do. It's because of my own life experience, which is really very similar to what many, many women have suffered because I didn't learn about injustices⁹ against women in law school or in college. We didn't speak about that. It's because I have a passion for justice. And because of what I have suffered, that I feel that I can't undo¹⁰ what has happened to me, but I can use that to help others, for them to have rights that I didn't feel that I had.

MARTIN: You were saying that you didn't learn about these things in law school, but one of the things that was interesting to me is how far back your advocacy in these particular areas goes. In fact, your law partners were interviewed, and they said that you were like that in law school. And also, for example, let me just play this clip from "The Dinah Shore Show" back in 1974. And you looked like you were about 14 but you weren't. But let me just play that clip. OK. Here it is.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE DINAH SHORE SHOW")

DINAH SHORE: Hi, Gloria.

ALLRED: Hi, Dinah.

SHORE: Where are you from?

ALLRED: I'm an attorney in Los Angeles.

SHORE: Oh, welcome. And how would you feel if your husband presented you with a list like that?

ALLRED: Well, Dinah, I think we have a uterus and a brain and they both work. And I think it's very insulting to women.

(APPLAUSE)

SHORE: Listen. I think you ought to be definite about this. Don't just tip-toe around it here.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: You know, you can hear the kind of gasp¹¹ in the audience because you can hear that, for a lot of women, hearing another woman say that was just very shocking because the audience was mostly women. But the film features people literally¹² screaming in your face, like literally inches from your face.

ALLRED: You're talking about opponents? That's right.

MARTIN: Opponents, yes, I'm talking about opponents. But I'm talking about on talk shows going back 30 years, where people - you are literally surrounded by people screaming and hooting¹³ and so forth¹⁴. And you never seemed to get upset or angry or - you know what I mean? And I'm just wondering, how have you been able to do that all these years?

ALLRED: I used to go on these shows in the '70s and the '80s because, you know, the mainstream¹⁵ shows were - for many of them, they were not interested in talking about women's rights. They were more interested in, like, talking about what are the good recipes for women to be making in the kitchen and, you know, what a woman should be wearing when her husband comes home from work at night. But then there were shows that - male-oriented shows that decided¹⁶ that they wanted me to take them on or they wanted to take me on. Men would be hooting at me.

But it was a way to be able to speak about women's rights. It was a way for women to say, wait a minute, we can speak out. We can't confront the sexism, the racism¹⁷, the misogyny, the homophobia. We can confront all that. We don't have to be afraid. So I would take any venue¹⁸ because remember, this was before the Internet. This is before cellphones. And I wanted them to see someone who was not afraid so that they could then say, you know what? I'm going to not let fear be a weapon that's going to keep me down in my life. I'm going to stand up and say, this is wrong.

MARTIN: Bill Cosby is a throughline through this film. And I think people know now that, you know, once a beloved entertainer and pitch man, he's been accused by more than 50 women now saying that he raped¹⁹ and drugged them over decades. You have publicized - or you have represented a number of these women, but there is no legal recourse for many of them at this point. So that, you know, leads to the question of, like, why do you keep publicizing these stories? Now, your critics suggest it's because you just like the publicity²⁰. But if that's not the reason, why do you put people in the public eye when there really is nothing the law can do for them at that point?

ALLRED: Well, I don't put people in the public eye. My clients decide they would like to have a voice. They would like to be heard. And I'm there to support them. But you're right. Many of the accusers have no legal recourse because the statute²¹ of limitations, which is the arbitrary time period set by law, had expired. But they wanted their voices to be heard, so I started doing press conferences with them. And we did this for - I don't know - a year, two years, something like that.

And reporters kept saying, what's the endgame? What's the endgame? And I didn't say because whatever the endgame is, it's important that these women were empowered and wanted to be heard. Ultimately, of course, he was prosecuted²². The criminal trial ended in a deadlock²³. Now he is going to face a second criminal trial in April. I also have filed a civil lawsuit¹ against Mr. Cosby on behalf of one of the accusers, Judy Huth. So all I can say is no, it's not just about women's voices, although had it been only about women's voices, I think that would have been important.

MARTIN: To that end, though, what do you make of the fact that something that, you know, you've been fighting for so long is now, you know, in the news like every day? I mean, what do you make of that? Why do you think that is?

ALLRED: Well, because women have found their voice and minorities. And they've done what Mother Jones has said, which is don't agonize²⁴, organize. And that's a beautiful thing. I think this tsunami²⁵ is going to continue. I don't see us going backwards²⁶. I only see us going forward. And that's so encouraging and so exciting.

MARTIN: That was civil rights attorney Gloria Allred. "Seeing Allred," a new documentary about her life and work, is out on Netflix later this week.

1 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

2 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

3 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

8 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

9 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。

10 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

11 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 hooting   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩

参考例句：

• He had the audience hooting with laughter . 他令观众哄堂大笑。
• The owl was hooting. 猫头鹰在叫。

14 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

15 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

18 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

19 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

20 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

21 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

22 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

23 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

24 agonize   

v.使受苦，使苦闷

参考例句：

• Why do you agonize yourself with the thought of your failure?你为何总是对于你的失败念念不忘而自我折磨呢？
• There's no reason to agonize over telling people you're job hunting.没有理由为告诉他人你正在找工作而感到苦恼。

25 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

26 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。