Friends actor David Schwimmer and Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon might not be making our day and announcing a collaboration for a new television series aimed to rival their Nineties cult shows, but they have teamed up for a new campaign to highlight the daily horrors of sexual harassment.
As part of a new campaign called #ThatsHarassment, Schwimmer stars and directs in six short films based on real-life incidencts of male on female harassment, according to Cosmopolitan.
The series is based on a video project – written and directed by Israeli-American, Sigal Avin – and includes the likes of Cynthia Nixon, Shameless US star Emmy Rossum, House of Cards' Michael Kelly and Meryl Streep's daughter, Good Girls Revolt's actress Grace Gummer playing out various, real-life situations where women have encountered sexual harassment from men, be it in the workplace or doctor's office.
In one scenario called 'The Boss', Schwimmer plays a senior member of staff who makes a move on his female assistant.
Another sees Nixon playing a patient visiting a doctor (played by Kelly) who inappropriately touches her on the thigh, says her chest is 'lovely' and caresses her boobs.
The hashtag '#ThatsHarassment' shows on the screen following the videos, leaving a chill in one's spine.
The other videos show scenes between a photographer and model, a stylist and an actor and a journalist and a politician.
Schwimmer explained his reason for bringing the project – originally shown in Israel – to the US to Cosmopolitan, and said: 'I grew up with stories of sexual harassment from my mom.
'Every woman in my family, in my life, has been harassed, except my daughter, thank god, who's only six.
'When you've been objectified your entire life and become accustomed to being a second-class citizen in many, many ways - constantly told that you aren't worth the same as men, basically, and that your body comes first, or what you look like comes first - it makes a lot more sense to me that a lot of women don't even recognise when they're being harassed.
'Because you spend your whole life not being treated with the kind of respect that men are automatically given,' he added.
Among the chilling videos includes one based on the original writer's own experience of sexual harassment when she was starting her career as a playwright.
'I realised that I really wanted to see what sexual harassment was instead of hearing about it and reading about it all the time,' Avin told the publication.
'There was nothing on it, everything was much more violent, or unreal, but there was nothing that showed the gray area of sexual harassment,' she added.
Throughout the series Schwimmer and the actors successfully present the distant, yet so often blurred, boundary between what's appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in society and how to recognise signs of every day harassment.
Find out more about the project at the 'That's Harassment' Facebook page.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
