Subtlety and Deeper Thinking About Current Events

I have little to say about the whole Harvey Weinstein mess, because so much has been said fairly well that I don't think I have much new to contribute. He's a pig and he's not alone.

I've been interested in what other have said, actually, as some interesting little bits of cognitive dissonance have surfaced in some comments. For instance, clothing mogul Donna Karan, said

 'I think we have to look at ourselves. Obviously, the treatment of women all over the world is something that has always had to be identified. Certainly in the country of Haiti where I work, in Africa, in the developing world, it's been a hard time for women. 

'To see it here in our own country is very difficult, but I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality? 

'And what are we throwing out to our children today about how to dance and how to perform and what to wear? How much should they show?' 

 'I don't think it's only Harvey Weinstein. I don't think we're only looking at him. I think we're looking at a world much deeper than that.' 

'Yes, I think he's being looked at right now as a symbol, not necessarily as him. I know his wife, I think they're wonderful people, Harvey has done some amazing things. I think we have to look at our world and what we want to say and how we want to say it as well.' 'You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble,'

Now, she messed up here, obviously, because he has no one to blame but himself, but I think she voiced a rather conservative idea that there are larger issues about our culture and how we portray, dress, and define what it means to be female. Can you believe she had the audacity to suggest that maybe, just maybe, sexualizing our girls from an fairly early age might be a bad idea? One of my never-to-be-said-aloud arguments against some feminist thought is similar in that it's hard to be a guy in these times when we aren't supposed to so much as notice that a woman is attractive and has body parts that are well-formed, unless we are supposed to notice how pretty/sexy/attractive a woman is when she wants us to notice it. 

For example, whenever I hear "how dare you even notice that a nursing mother whip out a life-giving food supplier for her nursing child, I mean, this is EXACTLY what breasts are for," I want to reply, "did you never, ever, ever use that breast for your pleasure? Did you never, ever, ever dress to highlight your chest for any reason whatsoever? Did you never, ever, ever, consider buying or not buying, wearing or not wearing a garment because of how it made your torso look?"

See, it's more complicated than "Harvey is a rapist, that's all you are allowed to say." He is, and yet, that doesn't make Karan's other point invalid. As I've said, two things can be true at the same time.

I also hate to bring this up, but let us not forget that there are women who do take advantage of these situations to forward their careers and interests. I've told the story of working at a concert venue and the gross security guys getting all kinds of offers from girls to get backstage. There is such a thing as groupies. So, while this guy is a pig, there were probably also girls that threw themselves at him at some point. Ewwwww.

Jane Fonda had some comments that included this:

 “We have to be helped by men. It’s important to know that not all men are predators. There are good men and the good men have to stand up and defend us and embody other ways of being. We have to believe the women who come forward. We have to speak out.”

Now, here is another conservative idea, right, this idea that men should be chivalrous, should not just mind their own business "because girlpower" but rather act like men.

I would suggest that the emasculation of men over the past 40+ years has actually made it worse for women in a few ways, one of them being that guys like Harvey Weinstein, maybe would have gotten his lights punched out by guys like Brad Pitt had he not been educated away from that type of masculinity (kind of like how all the years of attacking capitalism has made the real problem, crony capitalism, much much worse).

Anyway, I'll finish by saying that all the people slamming the victims for not speaking sooner have no clue what it's like to be a victim of the kind of harassment these folks were. If you've sacrificed (not just risked, but actually had to sacrifice) your livelihood to call out someone, maybe you can share that and blame them, but I won't. I've learned too much about this kind of stuff as a teacher and coach (and what to look for to identify victims) to blame them. Read a book before you spout off.

We have issues as a culture. It's a shame that valid points about it are lost in the shuffle of the valid outrage over this guy's disgusting behavior. I hope that as we root out the sickos in Hollywood (and other industries) these other issues can be confronted as well.