Weinstein’s a pig, but #MeToo asks too much

I have no doubt that movie producer turned inmate Harvey Weinstein is a hedge hog who has had his hands on more women than on film products (and he has produced scores of films).

Harvey Weinstein enters court. (Photo. L.A. Times)

I also believe if he looked like Tom Cruise instead of Quasimodo there would be few sexual complaints against him, but that’s another matter. 

I am slowly wading into deep water here because some are going to take this as me blaming the victim. To an extent, I guess I am.

As a general principle, if a woman waits 20 years to claim she was raped, did not report it to police at the time, and has had sex with the man after the rape or maintained a cordial relationship with him after the alleged rape, the seriousness of the damage to her is open to question. You can’t send him emails saying you miss him. You just can’t.

Many of Weinstein’s accusers fall into one or more of these categories. Does that mean they’re lying? No. But it means women have to be schooled in what to do when a man comes on too strong.

In the Old Days, say “Mad Men” days, if a gent made an ugly remark or gesture, a woman would slap his face. Loudly and publicly. 

We don’t know if any women did that to Weinstein, but I haven’t heard of any who did. 

A few admitted they gave in to his insistent demands for sex. 

Why didn’t they kick him in the balls? I ask myself.

As he forced his face between their thighs, why didn’t they stick a fingernail in his eye?

Did they fear he would beat them?

Did they fear they would never work in Hollywood again?

How many felt the sting of humiliation only after a job he promised them did not come through?

In a slight segue, on “Saturday Night Live,” Kate McKinnon’s character of cigarette-smoking actress Debette Goldry, representing Old Hollywood, is one of the more courageous things on TV. Usually seated at a panel of #MeToo woke actresses, Goldry casually recounts lurid tales of the casting couch and — with a shrug — the routine sexual abuse many actresses had to endure.

That Goldry shrugs it off, and that McKinnon is not roasted alive on Twitter, is testament to the actress’ skill, or perhaps she gets a pass because she’s a lesbian.

In any event, her character sets the table with the reality of the way things once were, and probably still are, to some degree in Hollyweird.

There are a million Hollywood stories that illustrate that powerful men, long before Weinstein, got their way. There was the studio head who summoned the pre-star Marilyn Monroe to his office to service him under his massive desk as he made deals on the telephone. That ignited her drive to stardom, she told a biographer, so that she could never be used like that again.

Monroe and her sisters never called the cops, never complained. It was all part of the game.

The game has changed. Powerful men — Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Bill Cosby, R. Kelly, Placido Domingo, Cuba Gooding Jr. and many more — have been accused of sexual misconduct, along with many politicians. That’s good, up to a point. 

#MeToo has made an unreasonable demand — that all victims (although we are no longer allowed to use that word, they are all now “survivors”) must be believed. There is even a hashtag: #BelieveTheWomen. 

No. They must be treated with respect and sympathy, but they must produce evidence in order to be believed. Why? Because some women alleging sexual misconduct lie.  It may be rare, but it happens.

Justice wears a blindfold for a reason — to not see gender or race or religion, or anything other than the facts.

We have to delineate between forcible rape, threats, intimidation, begging and seduction. 

As for women, they must fight back, physically and legally, and come forward immediately to secure the support of those who need facts to underscore belief. 

9 thoughts on “Weinstein’s a pig, but #MeToo asks too much”

  1. HAPPY SUNDAY !!!
    Pallie !
    You’re back ! Now that you have X-Ray vision, courtesy of Wills Eye, (sic) you’ll be invincible !
    As usual, you are correct, sir. Some what blinded, but correct. MONEY ! The corporate world in the ’80s, Hollywierd still, money is/was the driving force. It is never okay to force yourself on another person. But from what I remember, it’s not necessarily always forced. e.g. If you go in a pick-up bar ( do they still have them ?), what’s the objective ? Certainly not to discuss world politics. Two people are looking to get laid. How is that achieved ? What is the results ?
    For sure, it takes a long time to clean up the mess that we humans have made. Honesty in opinions and decisions goes a long way.
    Tony

  2. Glad you’re back! Hope it all went well!

    A great piece of writing, Stu. And only possible here. There is nothing that I read to disagree with.
    You covered it all.

  3. Stu, great column. Be sure to wear rain gear for the shit-storm you may have walked into.

    Let’s face it, Hollywood needs more women in positions of power. Then they could demand that men get under the desk and service them.

    Seriously, the lure of stardom and the millions and millions of dollars that always follow were, to a huge extent, the reason these women said nothing. Had Weinstein not had the power he had, he would have been turned in to the police years ago.

  4. In her offensive 1998 New York Times op-ed, Feminists and the Clinton Question, Gloria Steinem slut-shamed and victim-blamed Bill Clinton’s accusers. She even poked fun at their ages. Steinem urged compassion for and gratitude to the man the women accused. “Even if the allegations are true, the President is not guilty of sexual harassment. He is accused of having made a gross, dumb, and reckless pass at a supporter during a low point in her life.”
    Steinem also emphasized that the feminist movement exists to serve the Democrat Party.

    1. Mr. Lynch: how right you are! Bill Clinton got a pass on everything he did against women, and his servile female supporters deserve opprobrium for trashing the women who accused the priapic Arkansas predator. But I never seem to learn: Democrats can do no wrong.

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