Betsy West, director of the film RBG, shared her own story of navigating the male-dominated world of news during a conversation with filmmaker Michael Moore on Tuesday night at the Traverse City Film Festival. West, who previously worked as a senior VP at CBS News, was asked about her experiences with harassment in the wake of the harassment allegations against Les Moonves. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the director shared that while working at ABC Radio on her 25th birthday, a male co-worker gifted her a penis-shaped cake. Not knowing what else to do, she laughed the incident off. But when stories about Roger Ailes began to emerge from Fox News, she re-evaluated her reaction, “I’m thinking, ‘Why didn’t you say to them, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, buying a penis cake for a 25-year-old? This is really horrible.†They were looking at me, they were trying to see how I would react, and I just took it as a joke.â€
“Look, it’s not like attempted rape or horrible things that happen to women in the workplace, but it’s indicative of an attitude that I think many of us put up with,†she told the crowd. “I’m so happy the #MeToo movement is bringing to light so many of the uncomfortable situations and the illegal things that have gone on.â€