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Hollywood has been known for producing movies and shows but also for scandals. With these scandals becoming common, you can’t help but question the future of this industry.

Another day, another allegation. Many of our former favorite stars, such as Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer, R. Kelly and more have lost the respect and admiration of the public due to multiple women coming forward against them with sexual abuse allegations. It is no doubt shocking to realize the truth about your favorite actor or musician; the person that you idolized and admired isn’t so worthy of your praise after all. But aside from that, why is everyone so shocked? It’s common knowledge that sexual abuse runs rampant in Hollywood; it’s an open secret of sorts.

The “casting couch” is a very well known phenomenon. You may have never heard the term, but most likely, you know what it is. It’s essentially when aspiring actresses – sometimes a well established, famous actresses – perform sexual acts for big studio executives to get movie roles. It’s nothing new. In fact, it’s been happening since the very beginning of Hollywood. As abhorrent as that is, Hollywood has an even darker underbelly to it.

Young children and teens are routinely exploited and abused by studio executives, producers and other Hollywood big shots. Even worse, the parents of these kids enable these disgusting people to do so because they’re too greedy and negligent to put a stop to what’s being done to them. Is it really any wonder that these poor kids grow up to have drug and alcohol addictions and severe mental health problems? And instead of acknowledging the reasons why, we buy the tabloids, laugh at their erratic social media posts and mock them as if they’re a walking circus.

It’s beyond sickening, but we can’t continue to blatantly sweep pedophilia in Hollywood under the rug. It’s understandable that the masses don’t want to think of such dark things in addition to everything else that’s been exposed. After all, we just want our entertainment. But if we really want to change the industry for good, we must bring this issue to light, just as much as the #MeToo allegations, if not more. We have to show victims not only that their stories matter, but that we’re willing to use their stories to put a stop to all sexual abuse in Hollywood, once and for all.