What If?

Harvey Weinsten, an American film producer and co-founder of Miramix, has recently been accused of numerous allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.  I really didn’t know much about Weinstein until recently but according to Wikipedia, which is about all the further I care to look into the guy, he produced Pulp Fiction and Clerks and won an Academy Award for producing Shakespeare in Love.  He has also been the recipient of seven Tony Awards for producing plays and musicals, including The Producers.  The allegations against Mr. Weinstein stemmed from an investigatory news piece published by the New York Times on October 5, 2017.  You can read the story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html.  The investigation revealed allegations stretching over nearly three decades, including eight legal settlements.  Mr. Weinstein was recently fired by his company’s board of directors and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  Great, right?  Not surprisingly, this self-proclaimed asshole doesn’t exactly think so.

I commend the Board for taking action.  The problem is, of course, that the action should have been taken decades ago.  Why didn’t the board terminate Mr. Weinstein after his second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh legal settlement.  One time may be an anomaly but after that, well, let’s just call it a pattern.  Perhaps the Board didn’t fire Mr. Weinstein because its by-laws prevented it, but I suggest to you another, more sinister reason probably underlies the utter failure to take action in the wake of eight different legal settlements for similar conduct—We simply do not believe women.  Anytime there is an allegation against a high-profile male figure, the general reaction is the same—She wanted it, she had buyer’s remorse, and she just wants money.  Contrast that with the narrative that is commonly attributed to the accused—He is a such a good guy, he is essential to the company, and he couldn’t have possibly done that.  Before any investigation, we already have started a script based upon contempt for the female accuser.  A woman who reports sexual assault or sexual harassment has to defend herself and her actions unlike any other crime.  For example, if my TV is stolen, the entire investigation starts from a place of accepting that a crime was committed and my TV, was in fact, stolen.  I don’t have to answer questions about whether I really wanted my TV to be stolen, or if I was showing it off by allowing it to be viewed through my window.  But if I report a sexual assault, the investigation starts from a place of disbelief.  It is not surprising that women don’t want to go to the police to be subjected to a cross-examination about what they were wearing, whether they resisted forcefully enough or whether they said no loudly and plainly enough. 

Knowing this, as a society we have the lost the right to act surprised or appalled when stories about Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby are published.  The question shouldn’t be how this could happen because we have tacitly accepted and therefore, created the conditions that enable and allow predators to prey.  Rather, the questions really should be why we don’t believe women and what would change if we did.