casting couch
noun
: a couch in an entertainment executive's office on which aspiring actresses are reputed to perform sexual acts in exchange for desired roles
broadly : the practice of abusing one's power to obtain sexual partners
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The moment, we’re given to understand, represents a dozen others like it, but while the casting couch isn’t news, the drama here is in seeing Marilyn’s special navigation of the toxicity of Hollywood’s harassment-meets-sugar-daddy culture. 
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 Sep. 2022 Today, Rivera unequivocally defends Robbins — and also Bob Fosse, whose nastiness may have been worse than Strasberg’s and whose casting couch may have been busier than Kazan’s. New York Times, 8 June 2022 By now, the idea of the casting couch should shock no one. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 27 Apr. 2022 Her socially adept mother has connections with major stars such as Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable, and soon Nancy goes West, signs on with MGM Studios and doesn’t quite avoid the casting couch in the course of making a few films. Matt Damsker, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2021 Unlike other aspects of Jane’s routine, which includes menial yet haunting tasks like scrubbing stains off her boss’s casting couch, the Froot Loops don’t relay anything about the toxic behavior pervading her workplace. Sonia Rao, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2020 One of the earliest known instances of casting couch behavior was not in the movies, but on Broadway. Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2020 Seven months earlier, Farrow and his producer, Rich McHugh, had begun researching a story about the modern Hollywood casting couch. Anne Diebel, The New York Review of Books, 28 Jan. 2020 For recent evidence, look to Nielsen's brilliant and cutting Variety op-ed about Harvey Weinstein, casting couches, and structural inequality against women in Hollywood. refinery29.com, 8 June 2018 See More
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 Sep. 2022 Today, Rivera unequivocally defends Robbins — and also Bob Fosse, whose nastiness may have been worse than Strasberg’s and whose casting couch may have been busier than Kazan’s. New York Times, 8 June 2022 By now, the idea of the casting couch should shock no one. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 27 Apr. 2022 Her socially adept mother has connections with major stars such as Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable, and soon Nancy goes West, signs on with MGM Studios and doesn’t quite avoid the casting couch in the course of making a few films. Matt Damsker, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2021 Unlike other aspects of Jane’s routine, which includes menial yet haunting tasks like scrubbing stains off her boss’s casting couch, the Froot Loops don’t relay anything about the toxic behavior pervading her workplace. Sonia Rao, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2020 One of the earliest known instances of casting couch behavior was not in the movies, but on Broadway. Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2020 Seven months earlier, Farrow and his producer, Rich McHugh, had begun researching a story about the modern Hollywood casting couch. Anne Diebel, The New York Review of Books, 28 Jan. 2020 For recent evidence, look to Nielsen's brilliant and cutting Variety op-ed about Harvey Weinstein, casting couches, and structural inequality against women in Hollywood. refinery29.com, 8 June 2018 See More Word History
First Known Use
1931, in the meaning defined above