A friend of mine was sexually abused as a teenager by a teacher. But her big points was that she found out in later years that many, many people were suspicious that something was going on but said nothing. They felt they didn't know enough to make an accusation. What she explains is that for predators, you don't have to accuse to have an effect. Any one of the adults could have merely said something like "Wow, you're really popular with your students", or "They really seem to like you", and that alone would have had an effect on them. More importantly, they could have said to each other, "Wow, he really is popular with his students" and often that would have been enough to start a conversation about "yeah, maybe too popular" or some other expression of concern without actually making a formal accusation.
With the Weinstein situation, if people had mere said anything about their observations, even something that most of us might consider non-threatening, it could have had an impact. More importantly, it could have helped empower these women to say something. Something as simple as saying, "Oh, Harvey wants to meet with you! That could be important to your career. Definitely take the meeting. Oh, by the way, he can be a bit 'too friendly'. Keep your physical distance and if it gets out of hand, tell me". That alone could have empowered the women to actually "tell someone" such that it would have become far more known than it (apparently) was. There were way too many people that thought what they observed was the "limit" of what he was doing. It wasn't and that is the problem with this kind of harassment/abuse. A bit like child abuse, what people see in public is usually "the tip of the iceberg". If you see something that even makes you slightly uncomfortable, it is not uncommon that something worse is happening in private.
Someone saying "Harvey, that might make folks uncomfortable" can help alot. Furthermore, saying if front of a person, "Wow Harvey, I'd bet you made her feel uncomfortable" can help alot. Yes, the victim might not immediately acknowledge that it did, especially in front of a powerful person. But it will establish that it is the powerful person that is the problem, not the victim. And furthermore, at some point in the future, it might start to collect in the memories of people around the abuser that can act that this behavior is repeated and problematic.
Silence is the problem. Saying almost anything other than "keep quite" is the solution.
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