The issue couldn’t be timelier, and for David Schwimmer — who recently co-produced a series of PSAs called "That's Harassment" — it also happens to be deeply personal.
Schwimmer's mother dealt with harassment as a young lawyer in California. And it’s something he discusses frequently with his daughter, Cleo, 6.
“With my daughter, it’s more about just knowing it’s your body and your space. It’s more about personal space and building confidence in her to speak out and speak up if anything she encounters makes her feel uncomfortable, period,” the "Friends" star told Megyn Kelly TODAY. “Her body, her hair, it’s hers. She owns it. It’s giving her the courage and confidence to speak up and speak out.”
And yes, says Schwimmer, it’s an ongoing conversation.
“She just told me last night that at school on Friday, some boys behind her, some older boys, were kind of touching and kicking her back a little. She turned around and gave them a look,” says Schwimmer. “I said, ‘Next time, Cleo, you need to turn around and firmly but politely say to please stop touching me. If you do that twice and they keep on touching you, you stand up, walk away and find a grownup, period.' It’s important to instill that kind of confidence from an early age.”
The same applies to her physicality. “There should be, in my view, no shame about her body and about being in her body and understanding how her body works,” he says.
"That's Harassment," which focuses on realistic scenarios involving unwanted advances, was produced in conjunction with Israeli writer/director Sigal Avin. You can watch the videos here.