Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about dinosaurs. Not the prehistoric reptiles that once roamed the earth but the repulsive creatures masquerading as human beings that still permeate society and sadly seem to believe their reprehensible behaviour and attitudes towards women are still acceptable.
To give an example, the most prominent of these that comes to mind is Harvey Weinstein.
This vile individual was finally outed after years of systematic abuse towards up and coming or even established stars who found themselves subject and exposed to his lascivious advances as he abused his position of power over them in progressing their chosen careers to manipulate them.
The impact of his actions is not just restricted to/go even further than the inestimable physical and psychological harm undoubtedly caused as their careers also fall victim to his antics and his Machiavellian methods of getting his way (or should that be getting his end away). Some escaped the threatened impact to their livelihoods. For others their dreams were crushed and the promising ingénues and potential superstars fell by the wayside crushed under the weight of his libido.
This is the full list of his accusers:
1. Cate Blanchett
2. Helena Bonham Carter
3. Kate Beckinsale
4. Salma Hayek
5. Angelina Jolie
6. Cara Delevingne
7. Madonna
8. Lupita Nyong'o
9. Gwyneth Paltrow
10. Léa Seydoux
11. Uma Thurman
12. Lena Headey
13.
Claire Forlani
14.
Romola Garai
15.
Heather Graham
16.
Eva Green
17.
Daryl Hannah
18.
Anne Heche
19.
Lauren Holly
20.
Ashley Judd
21.
Olga Kurylenko
22.
Myleene Klass
23.
Julianna Margulies
24.
Rose McGowan
25.
Connie Nielsen
26.
Monica Potter
27.
Aishwarya Rai
28.
Mira Sorvino
29. Rosanna Arquette
30.
Lysette Anthony
31.
Asia Argento
32.
Alice Evans
33.
Sean Young
34.
Jessica Hynes
35. Natalie Mendoza
36. Annabella Sciorra
37. Amber Anderson
38. Jessica Barth
39. Zoë Brock
40. Liza Campbell
41. Marisa Coughlan
42. Florence Darel
43. Emma de Caunes
44. Paz de la Huerta
45. Sophie Dix
46. Kaitlin Doubleday
47. Caitlin Dulany
48. Lina Esco
49. Angie Everhart
50. Louisette Geiss
51. Judith Godrèche
52. Trish Goff
53. Ambra Gutierrez
54. Minka Kelly
55. Mia Kirshner
56. Natassia Malthe
57. Brit Marling
58. Katya Mtsitouridze
59. Jennifer Siebel Newsom
60. Vu Thu Phuong
61. Sarah Polley
62. Melissa Sagemiller
63. Tara Subkoff
64. Paula Williams
65. Juls Bindi
66. Cynthia Burr
67. Alexandra Canosa
68. Rowena Chiu
69. Hope Exiner d'Amore
70. Wedil David
71. Juliana De Paula
72. Jane Doe
73. Lacey Dorn
74. Dawn Dunning
75. Lucia Evans
76. Louise Godbold
77. Larissa Gomes
78. Mimi Haleyi
79. Dominique Huett
80. Amy Israel
81. Katherine Kendall
82. Heather Kerr
83. Nannette Klatt
84. Liz Kouri
85. Jasmine Lobe
86. Emma Loman
87. Ivana Lowell
88. Laura Madden
89. Jessica Mann
90. Sarah Ann Masse
91. Ashley Matthau
92. Sophie Morris
93. Emily Nestor
94. Kadian Noble
95. Lauren O'Connor
96. Samantha Panagrosso
97. Zelda Perkins
98. Emanuela Postacchini
99. Tomi-Ann Roberts
100. Lisa Rose
101. Erika
Rosenbaum
102. Lauren Sivan
103. Chelsea
Skidmore
104. Kaja Sokola
105. Melissa
Thompson
106. Paula
Wachowiak
107. Wende Walsh
The ones is green you’ve probably
heard of, the ones in orange you may have heard of but not for a while, the ones
in red you’re unlikely to have heard of. But
might you have done if Weinstein hadn’t blocked their way? Might Sophie Dix and
Minka Kelly now hold the same standing as Blanchett, Paltrow and Jolie if they
hadn’t been faced with Weinstein’s version of Hobson’s Choice?
Fortunately, due to the bravery of the above women in coming forward,
and the subsequent emergence of the MeToo movement, it is becoming apparent
that this kind of behaviour and these actions are not acceptable and have no
place in modern society. These dinosaurs need to be made extinct once and for
all and this cannot happen until everyone agrees that this behaviour is not to
be tolerated and that these creatures are not to be accommodated.
Prison sentences like that handed out to Weinstein are a strong sign of this desired outcome and a determined step in the right direction but there is still a long way to go. There are other examples of equally odious creatures who were not subject to the same consequences.
- Roger Ailes, American TV executive, was outed in 2016 as a sexual
predator and forced to resign. This might sound like a victory but, aside from
the fact his actions were initially covered up/defended by his employers, at
his resignation he was thanked for his worked and given a golden handshake of
$65 million. He subsequently (and perhaps unsurprisingly) went to work for
Donald Trump as an adviser*.
- John Lasseter, animation producer for Disney and Pixar, was forced to take a ‘leave of absence’ after his sexual misconduct was brought to light. Eventually he and Pixar announced they parted ways. Note he wasn’t fired and not only had he acknowledged his actions but Pixar had previously assigned minders to him during his employment with them. i.e. they knew and did nothing to effectively address his behaviour. He was subsequently hired to head an associated animation company.
As I say, still a long way to go.
You wouldn't think it would be difficult to reprimand these odious creatures when their actions come to light. But it seems it is another inconvenient truth of our time. It is apparently inconvenient for the company this person works for to deal appropriately with their behaviour. It is inconvenient for them to acknowledge there is someone in their midst who should not be. And it is inconvenient for business to lose the ‘asset’ of that person’s knowledge and experience in the industry.
Yet they conveniently (for them) overlook the fact that it is infinitely more inconvenient for their victims to be subject
to their actions and for the ripple effect it has on everyone in their lives
and, through a lack of consequence, the world. This is the inconvenience that
should be focused on by all – especially the companies – and it should be made
transparent that condoning this behaviour is just as unacceptable as the
behaviour itself.
The loss to the company for not acting – preferably at the time – should
be greater than the loss of perpetrator's 'experience' to the company. What about the loss suffered by those people
deprived of their livelihoods? Who knows what they could have done, who knows
what they couldn’t achieved if their aspirations hadn’t been curtailed by the
odious and deplorable demands of the reptiles they encountered.
What’s even more compelling is that fact that the MeToo movement
includes men too as they have also suffered from this behaviour. This should be
a sufficiently significant indicator that it is a universal, gender-free
problem.
Terry Crews, James Van Der Beek and Brendan Fraser have all come
forward and reported being victims of sexual harassment and assault by
executives in the entertainment industry. Fraser has fortunately been given a
second chance in his career but when was the last time you saw Van Der Beek in
anything?
It is MeToo and if you cannot align with that, if you can see some grounds for objection to opposing such disgusting practices and behaviour then quite frankly you are part of the problem.
It is not difficult for people to stand beside their fellow man or woman. It is not difficult for men to be feminists. It is not difficult to say that behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. But it is so hard for a woman to stand up and speak about what she has suffered – especially given the prevalence for her inconvenient truth to be disbelieved. In our modern enlightened times she shouldn’t even have to in the first place because she shouldn’t have suffered or been put in a position when she suffered.
If the actions of the dinosaurs had been directed to the relatives of any of those who condone or fail(ed) to act they would have been outraged. So why is it even conceivably acceptable just because it happened to someone else? They are someone’s family.
Get rid of the dinosaurs. Get rid of their mentality. Get rid of their
capacity to perpetrate their despicable actions. It is not acceptable. It is
not tolerable. And it should not be a part of our society.
(Oh, and don’t come at me with that ‘Not AllMen’ rubbish. Until it is NotAnyMen
then that hashtag is meaningless.)
*I’m not even going to begin on the sexual corruption in politics as
otherwise this blog entry would never end.
